BRICS Must Address Inner Contradictions

The BRICS group of nations has just concluded its 17th annual summit in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.

- AMALENDU MISRA

But, despite member states adopting a long list of commitments covering global governance, finance, health, AI and climate change, the summit was a lackluster affair.

The two most prominent leaders from the group's founding members—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—were conspicuously absent. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, only attended virtually due to an outstanding arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court over his role in the war in Ukraine.

China's Xi Jinping avoided the summit altogether for unknown reasons, sending his prime minister, Li Qiang, instead. This was Xi's first no-show at a BRICS summit, with the snub prompting suggestions that Beijing's enthusiasm for the group as part of an emerging new world order is in decline.

Perhaps the most notable takeaway from the summit was a statement that came not from the BRICS nations but the US. As BRICS leaders gathered in Rio, the US president, Donald Trump, warned on social media: "Any country aligning themselves with the anti-American policies of BRICS will be charged an additional 10% tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy."

Trump has long been critical of BRICS. This is largely because the group has consistently floated the idea of adopting a common currency to challenge the dominance of the US dollar in international trade.