NEW DELHI — President Donald Trump’s trade policies and his resistance to efforts to reduce reliance on the US dollar are a key focus of discussions at the expanded BRICS grouping’s meeting in New Delhi, although the US is not a member.
India is chairing the 18th BRICS summit, which is taking place on September 12-13. The meeting includes the bloc’s 11 members, although not all are represented by their heads of government. Among the leaders attending are Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Brazil sends Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, while the United Arab Emirates sends Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The summit is taking place as the war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran has roiled energy markets and created new divisions inside BRICS. Iran and the UAE, both members of the wider grouping, are on opposite sides of the conflict, while Gulf states remain deeply tied to Washington. Oil prices have surged past $100 a barrel, and the war has made it harder to find common ground among the BRICS nations, Reuters said.
That is one of the greatest challenges for India—consensus.
In recent years, BRICS has expanded considerably, bringing together countries with vastly different political systems, economic interests, and relations with the U.S. Enlargement has increased the group’s economic and geopolitical weight but also made agreement on contentious international issues more difficult.
"India is not going to sign a joint statement that directly attacks Washington," Michael Kugelman, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told the BBC. He said that any criticism of US policy will more likely be in broad or indirect terms.
India has its reasons for avoiding an open confrontation with Washington. New Delhi is striving to enhance its economic and strategic ties with the United States while keeping its decades-old relationship with Russia and navigating a tough relationship with China.
For China, the BRICS provides a platform to promote a more multipolar international system, but Beijing must also weigh its broader economic ties with the United States. At the same time, Russia and Iran have more incentives to build mechanisms that will reduce their exposure to Western sanctions.
The issue of the US dollar is thus likely to remain important.
Trump has repeatedly warned BRICS countries not to develop a new currency or to support an alternative currency to the dollar. Trump threatened 100 per cent tariffs against countries that tried to do that before returning to the White House in November 2024. He repeated the threat when he took office in January 2025.
BRICS does not have a common currency at present. Instead, members have talked about using more national currencies in trade and better cross-border payment systems. At a meeting of BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors ahead of the summit, members of the BRICS bloc of emerging economies backed efforts to improve cross-border payments and called for reforms to institutions, including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Such arrangements could help Russia and Iran offset the impact of sanctions. The goal for other members is not so much to replace the dollar but to add to the financial menu and lessen dependence on one currency.
BRICS already has institutions to support that broader agenda.
The New Development Bank, created by the original BRICS members, finances infrastructure and sustainable-development projects in emerging economies. As of June 30, 2026, the bank said it had approved 141 projects for a total of around $44 billion in financing.
The group also has a contingent reserve arrangement of up to $100 billion to provide financial support to members facing short-term balance of payments or liquidity pressures. No participant has had to use the arrangement so far.
BRICS members are expected to discuss trade, supply chains, development, digital payments, and reform of international institutions beyond finance.
India is also taking the opportunity of the summit to push its case for a bigger role in representing the interests of developing countries.
New Delhi has advocated for a more multipolar international system and greater representation for developing economies in institutions like the United Nations, IMF, and World Bank. This year, the Indian chairmanship has focused on resilience, innovation, cooperation, and sustainability.
But India’s position is complicated by China’s influence across the developing world and by the strategic rivalry between the two Asian powers themselves.
The summit thus provides India with a delicate balancing act: to maintain relations with Washington while preserving its strategic partnership with Moscow, to manage competition with Beijing, and to keep BRICS focused on practical cooperation rather than turning it into an explicitly anti-US alliance.
Whether BRICS confronts Trump directly may ultimately matter less than whether its members can agree on specific areas of cooperation.
For a more and more diverse group, the ultimate challenge may be to find common ground.
