Nigeria is admitted as a partner country of the BRICS bloc

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria has been admitted as a “partner country” of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, according to Brazil, the group’s chair.

BRICS was formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009, with South Africa added in 2010, as a counterweight to the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations.

Last year, the bloc added Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia has been invited to join. Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied to become members, and a few others have expressed interest.

Nigeria becomes the ninth BRICS partner country, joining Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan.

“With the world’s sixth-largest population — and Africa’s largest — as well as being one of the continent’s major economies, Nigeria shares convergent interests with other members of BRICS,” Brazil's government said in a statement Friday.

“It plays an active role in strengthening South-South cooperation and in reforming global governance — issues that are top priorities during Brazil’s current presidency.”

President-elect Donald Trump last year threatened 100% tariffs against BRICS if they act to undermine the U.S. dollar. The bloc’s leaders have voiced their commitment to introduce an alternative payment system that would not be dependent on the dollar.

FILE - From left, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira attend the Outreach/BRICS Plus format session at the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (Maxim Shemetov, Pool Photo via AP, File)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — President Donald Trump suggested Friday that he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the U.S. controlling Greenland, a message that came as a Congressional delegation met Danish and Greenlandic lawmakers in Copenhagen and sought to lower tensions.

Trump for months has insisted that the U.S. should control Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in U.S. hands would be “unacceptable.”

“I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland,” he said Friday, without providing details. “We need Greenland for national security.”

He had not previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue.

Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington this week with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

That encounter didn’t resolve the deep differences, but did produce an agreement to set up a working group — on whose purpose Denmark and the White House then offered sharply diverging public views. Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO ally of the U.S.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to promote investment in rural health care in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)