Saudi Arabia has reportedly frozen its membership of the BRICS as a result of tariff threats from US President-elect Donald Trump.
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According to Russian news agency Interfax, Saudi Arabia has frozen its participation in BRICS.
The agency quoted Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov as saying that Russia had frozen its membership in BRICS.
Russia currently holds the chairmanship of BRICS.
Saudi Arabia was invited to join Brics in 2023 due to the group’s expansion at the time. The group initially consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, but has expanded over the years to include Egypt, Iran, the UAE, and Ethiopia.
The report comes weeks after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump pledged to impose 100% tariffs on BRICS members if they adopted their own currencies in an effort to overthrow the U.S. dollar. The Trump campaign remains critical of the EU, even though External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has said there are such plans.
Although Saudi Arabia had been invited to join BRICS and was affiliated with BRICS, it had made it clear that it was not yet a member.
In October, Russia was forced to retract a statement that referred to Saudi Arabia as a member of BRICS.
Ahead of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, the Kremlin retracted a statement it issued last week that referred to Saudi Arabia as a member state, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov instead saying: Whether Saudi Arabia will be represented at this summit, we will now draw a conclusion. ”
