US tariffs on other nations count as sanctions - Russia's Lavrov

KUALA LUMPUR: Tariffs imposed by Washington on other countries are a form of sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"ASEAN countries show interest in cooperating with Russia regardless of developments in the West or actions taken against them by the United States and its allies.

"Friendship with Russia began long before the current US administration started imposing sanctions. Consider tariffs as sanctions too," Lavrov told reporters in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, which hosted the Russia-ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting on Thursday.

He emphasised that Moscow's developing relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and BRICS allies was not a "counter-response" to anything.

"But if given a choice -- on one hand, to trade within a framework where no unfair methods are used to suppress competitors and, on the other hand, to trade with those who resort to blackmail - the choice becomes evident," the minister said.

In July, US President Donald Trump threatened members of the BRICS group of emerging economies with an additional 10 per cent tariff on goods exported to the US. Any country supporting the BRICS group's "anti-American" policies will also face a 10 per cent tariff, he warned.