India urged the BRICS nations to address the trade imbalances, adding that India's "biggest trade deficits are with BRICS partners." The bloc, which has Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa as key members,

India told the BRICS bloc on Monday that it wants trade gaps fixed fast, especially with countries inside the group.

Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva decried the use of tariffs as a tool of “blackmail” while China’s Xi Jinping said trade wars were disrupting the global economy during a BRICS summit that took place against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s targeting of the bloc’s members.