BRICS leaders in Rio de Janeiro in the absence of Xi and Putin to counter Trump’s protectionist approach

Leaders of the BRICS nations will meet in Rio de Janeiro starting Sunday in the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking to form a united front against Donald Trump’s protectionist policies, even without mentioning the US president by name.

Leaders of the Group of 11 major emerging economies, including Brazil, China, India, Russia, and South Africa, are holding their two-day annual meeting amid tight security at Guanabara Bay, amid Trump’s trade war and tariffs.

The final statement says that the participants intend to express their “grave concerns about the increase in unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures that distort trade and conflict with World Trade Organization rules”.

According to the text, which can still be amended during the summit, the 11 countries consider these measures to threaten to “further restrict global trade” and “affect the prospects for global economic development”.

Thus, emerging countries, which represent nearly half the world’s population and 40% of global GDP, are clearly targeting the US president and the series of tariffs he has imposed.

However, it avoids mentioning Trump specifically at a time when several countries, including China, the largest power in the BRICS group, are engaged in negotiations with Washington on this issue.

In the latest development in this long-running dispute, the Republican president announced on Friday that he had signed letters he would send next week to the United States’ trading partners regarding the implementation of the increased tariffs.

On Saturday, left-wing Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defended the multilateral approach, declaring that in the face of the resurgence of protectionism, it’s up to emerging nations to defend the multilateral trading system and reform the international financial architecture.

For the first time in 12 years, the Chinese president is absent from the summit, where his country is considered the dominant power.

Putin, who is the target of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, a war crime, will also be absent.

The discussions will also address the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June.

Negotiators reached an agreement on Saturday on how to mention it in the final statement, according to a source involved in the discussions.

Tehran wants the BRICS countries to toughen their tone, but the document is expected to maintain the “same language” it adopted in a statement issued by BRICS in late June, the source said.

In that statement, the emerging nations condemned the “military attacks” on Iran without mentioning Israel or the United States, and stressed the “urgent need to break the cycle of violence and restore peace”.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sent his Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to Rio de Janeiro.

The BRICS group, established in 2009 as a counterweight to the West and a force to rebalance the global order in favor of the “Global South,” has expanded since 2023, with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Ethiopia, Iran, and then Indonesia joining.

In addition to geopolitical issues, the bloc seeks to assert its economic weight.

In this context, it has been raising the possibility of creating an alternative to the dollar for trade transactions within the group for several years.

However, former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who chairs the BRICS bank, announced on Saturday that she saw “no possibility of achieving this,” adding, “Today, no one wants to assume the United States’ position”.

Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on countries that challenge the US currency’s global dominance, making such a scenario less likely.

Brazil, which will host the UN climate summit COP30 in November, also hopes to reach a consensus on combating climate change.

In addition to the final statement, the summit will issue texts related to climate, artificial intelligence, and health cooperation.