India takes BRICS helm in 2026 as Trump era tariffs and global power shifts intensify |
India’s assumption of the BRICS presidency for 2026 comes at a moment of acute global disruption, marked by escalating trade wars, geopolitical brinkmanship, and renewed questions over the credibility of international governance structures. New Delhi’s stewardship of the influential bloc will unfold against the backdrop of sweeping interventions by the administration of US President Donald Trump, whose aggressive use of tariffs and sanctions has reshaped global economic and diplomatic alignments.
The formal transfer of the BRICS presidency took place on December 12 in Brasilia, where Brazil handed over leadership to India during a meeting of BRICS sherpas. Brazil’s sherpa, Ambassador Mauricio Lyrio, symbolically passed the gavel to India’s Ambassador Sudhakar Dalela, emphasizing that the object represented both sustainability and the deep-rooted cooperation binding the group’s members. The moment was ceremonial, but the implications of India’s presidency are anything but symbolic.
Ambassador Dalela outlined that India’s priorities would be guided by continuity, consolidation, and consensus, while remaining responsive to emerging global developments and the evolving priorities of the Global South. That formulation reflects India’s traditional diplomatic posture-measured, pragmatic, and consensus-driven-but the geopolitical environment India inherits is far more volatile than in previous BRICS presidencies.
India takes charge of BRICS at a time when the grouping is expanding its footprint and sharpening its economic ambitions. The bloc, now comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Indonesia, represents nearly 39 percent of the global economy and almost a quarter of international trade. This growing economic weight has increasingly attracted hostility from Washington, particularly under Trump’s return to the White House.
Trump has made his aversion to BRICS unmistakably clear. In July, he openly threatened an additional 10 percent tariff on any country “aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS,” despite failing to identify any specific policy justifying such a label. The remarks came shortly after BRICS leaders criticized unilateral tariff regimes, describing them as unjustified........