China Brazil Photo:VCG
Since the US tariff “Liberation Day” on April 2, the global trade landscape has been in constant turmoil, spurring more countries to join forces in resisting unilateralism. Recently, US government wielded a 50 percent tariff threat against Brazil, gravely endangering exports such as Brazilian coffee beans. While Brazilian coffee traders were on edge, China extended a timely helping hand – authorizing 183 Brazilian companies to export coffee to the Chinese market and granting them five-year licenses. This move has become a microcosm of how BRICS countries are continuously deepening economic and trade cooperation and strengthening their capacity to respond to risks amid global turbulence, while also providing a vivid example of positive transformation in the model of global economic governance.
The purpose of the US’ new round of tariff wars is to use high duties to force other countries to make concessions on economic, trade and political issues. However, in practice, its effectiveness has been extremely limited. While US tariff barriers have disrupted parts of global supply chains and raised costs for related goods in the short term, they have failed to alter the fundamental momentum of economic globalization.
In this context, emerging economies, represented by BRICS and the broader Global South countries, are accelerating their engagement with each other. On August 6, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi had a phone call with Brazilian Chief Advisor to the Presidency Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim. Both sides agreed that China and Brazil, as the largest developing countries in the eastern and western hemispheres respectively, have always supported each other, maintained close coordination and staunchly safeguarded their respective legitimate interests and the common interests of Global South countries. This statement underscored the strategic positioning of China-Brazil cooperation in promoting multipolarity and fair governance.
The US’ hard-line measures have prompted the Global South countries to build consensus and advance institutional cooperation within frameworks such as BRICS. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated in an interview that he would coordinate with countries such as China and India to discuss a joint BRICS response to tariffs imposed by the US.
For BRICS countries, upgrading the quality of economic and trade cooperation is driven not only by the external turbulence but also by deep complementarity and promising prospects. Coffee trade is a case in point: Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producer and exporter, while China is one of the fastest-growing emerging coffee consumption markets. Strengthening cooperation with China not only opens a long-term market for Brazil’s coffee industry but also meets the growing demand among Chinese consumers for high-quality coffee – achieving mutual benefits for both sides.
Beyond the bilateral level, as a major BRICS member and Global South country, China’s timely “rescue” of Brazilian coffee offers the international community a potential path to building stable economic and trade relations – without relying on a single market and while respecting each other’s development rights. This breaks away from the zero-sum mind-set toward trade and highlights the foundational role of “building a community with a shared future for a more just world and a more sustainable planet” in international economic relations. It also sets an example for other emerging economies through stable, complementary trade ties and multilateral cooperation, so that Global South countries can firmly establish themselves in a volatile global economic environment and achieve sustainable development.
As instability persists, BRICS and the Global South have increasingly realized that the opportunity to reshape the future global economic and trade order is emerging. For decades, the rules and governance systems of international trade have largely been dominated by developed economies, with emerging economies playing a relatively passive role in rule-making. Now, with the growth of the BRICS mechanism, the group’s share in global population, GDP and market size continues to rise, as does its influence in international affairs. Looking ahead, BRICS and the Global South are bound to play a greater role in WTO reform, regional value chain building and the improvement of local currency settlement systems.
The shadow of global tariff wars cannot obscure the bright prospects of cooperation among emerging economies. Behind a single coffee bean lies not only the deepening of mutually beneficial China-Brazil cooperation in trade and beyond, but also the broader trend of global economic governance moving toward fairness and sustainability.
The author is a research fellow at the Institute of State Governance, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn