New Delhi [India], October 18 (ANI): Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin clarified that India and Brazil's cooperation is complimentary, and is not competitive.

Alckmin responding to ANI's question on the positioning of India and Brazil as alternative markets for each other amid tariffs by the US, said that both the countries are democracies, and they are not competitors.

'We are not going to compete on product, we are going to have economic complementarity,' he said.

Alckmin further said that both the countries have potential to grow, and that independent of US tariffs, both nations have investment opportunities.

He said, 'Independent of the American question, we are talking about two countries, two democracies, two countries that defend multilateralism, two countries of continental dimensions, both Brazil and India, that have everything to make trade grow, to make more investments grow. India is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world, 7%, even more, in the growth of its economy. Brazil this year is having an agricultural harvest that is 16% superior, so there is a lot of possibility for complementarity: in the area of technology, industrial area, mining, agro... We are not going to compete on product, we are going to have economic complementarity.'

In August, US President Donald Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on several Brazilian goods, which already had a 26.4 per cent levy. Trump's tariffs on India are up to 50% on most exports, among the highest for any US trading partner.

Alckmin also emphasised that BRICS is not against any country and reaffirmed the grouping's commitment to multilateralism and free trade, amid recent criticism from US President Donald Trump.

Trump had on Wednesday labelled BRICS as 'an attack on the dollar' during a bilateral lunch with Argentine President Javier Milei at the White House. 'I'm powerful on the dollar, and anybody that wants to deal in dollars, they have an advantage over people that aren't,' Trump said. (ANI)