BRICS summit opens in Brazil, overshadowed by Trump’s tariff policies and Middle East tensions

The BRICS bloc of developing nations on Sunday condemned the increase of tariffs and attacks on Iran, but refrained from naming U.S. President Donald Trump. The group's declaration, which also took aim at Israel's military actions in the Middle East, mentioned war-torn Ukraine just once.

China's President Xi Jinping did not attend a BRICS summit for the first time since he became his country's leader in 2012. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will make an appearance via videoconference, continues to mostly avoid traveling abroad due to an international arrest warrant issued after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The group's declaration raised "serious concerns" about the rise of tariffs, which it said were "inconsistent with WTO (World Trade Organization) rules," the document says. The group added that those restrictions "threaten to reduce global trade, disrupt global supply chains, and introduce uncertainty."

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized NATO's decision to hike military spending by 5% of GDP annually by 2035. That sentiment was later echoed in the group's declaration.

"It is always easier to invest in war than in peace," Lula said at the opening of the summit.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was expected to attend the summit before the attacks on his country in June, sent his foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, to the meeting in Rio.

Araghchi told leaders he had pushed for every member of the United Nations to condemn Israel's strikes strongly, which he called an "invasion," state media reported. He added that Israel and the U.S. should be accountable for rights violations. The Iranian foreign minister said the aftermath of the war "will not be limited" to one country.

"The entire region and beyond will be damaged," he said.

The restraint in Rio de Janeiro marks a departure from last year's summit hosted by Russia in Kazan, when the Kremlin sought to develop alternatives to U.S.-dominated payment systems which would allow it to dodge Western sanctions imposed after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"We recall our national positions concerning the conflict in Ukraine as expressed in the appropriate fora, including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly," the group said in its final declaration.

João Alfredo Nyegray, an international business and geopolitics professor at the Pontifical Catholic University in Parana, said the summit could have played a role in showing an alternative to an unstable world, but it won't do so.

"The withdrawal of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the uncertainty about the level of representation for countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are confirming the difficulty for the BRICS to establish themselves as a cohesive pole of global leadership," Nyegray said. "This moment demands high-level articulation, but we are actually seeing dispersion."

Brazil, the country that chairs the bloc, has picked six strategic priorities for the summit: global cooperation in healthcare; trade, investment and finance; climate change; governance for artificial intelligence; peace-making and security; and institutional development.

It has decided to focus on less controversial issues, such as promoting trade relations between members and global health, after Trump returned to the White House, said Ana Garcia, a professor at the Rio de Janeiro Federal Rural University.

"Brazil wants the least amount of damage possible and to avoid drawing the attention of the Trump administration to prevent any type of risk to the Brazilian economy," Garcia said.

While Brazil advocated on Sunday for reforming Western-led global institutions, a cornerstone policy of the group, the country's government wants to avoid becoming the target of tariffs — a predicament it has largely escaped so far.

Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs against the bloc if it takes any steps to undermine the dollar.

BRICS was founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but the group last year expanded to include Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates.

As well as new members, the bloc has 10 strategic partner countries, a category created at last year's summit that includes Belarus, Cuba and Vietnam.

That rapid expansion led Brazil to put housekeeping issues — officially termed institutional development — on the agenda to better integrate new members and boost internal cohesion.

Despite notable absences, the summit is important for attendees, especially in the context of instability provoked by Trump's tariff wars, said Bruce Scheidl, a researcher at the University of São Paulo's BRICS study group.

"The summit offers the best opportunity for emerging countries to respond, in the sense of seeking alternatives and diversifying their economic partnerships," Scheidl said.

Earlier on Sunday, a pro-Israel non-profit organization placed dozens of rainbow flags on Ipanema beach to protest Iran's policies regarding LGBT+ people. On Saturday, human rights group Amnesty International protested Brazil's plans for offshore oil drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River.

For Lula, the summit is a welcome respite from a challenging domestic scenario, marked by a decline in popularity and conflict with Congress.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to advance climate negotiations and commitments on environmental protection ahead of November's COP 30 climate talks in the Amazonian city of Belém.