The Pulse | Diplomacy | South Asia

The New Delhi BRICS Summit Sends Powerful Messages to America

However determined Western governments may be to turn Russia and Iran into pariah states, much of the Global South rejects their isolation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China President Xi Jinping join hands at the 18th BRICS summit at New Delhi, India, Sept. 12, 2026.

India hosted the 18th BRICS Summit with considerable success and impact. This year’s summit generated consensus on several major issues that concern not only BRICS members but also much of the world beyond the U.S.-dominated West.

In the wake of this summit, one can legitimately argue that BRICS is emerging as a formidable grouping capable of challenging the global hegemony of the United States and the G7. More importantly, it is evolving into a global platform that can help its members move, as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi put it, from being “rule takers” to becoming “rule makers.”

India achieved something that had seemed nearly impossible only a few months ago: securing the unanimous endorsement of a joint declaration by all BRICS nations. At the May meeting of BRICS foreign ministers, deep internal disagreements — particularly between India, which was reluctant to condemn Israel and the United States, and other members that sought such condemnation over the Israeli-U.S. attacks on Iran — prevented consensus. A separate dispute between the UAE and Iran over the wording of the document ultimately scuttled the proposed joint declaration, forcing the chair to issue only a summary of the discussions.

That failure highlighted the divisions within BRICS and raised serious questions about whether it could ever become a cohesive grouping. Its members include countries that are strategic rivals, such as India and China, as well as states directly at war with one another, such as the UAE and Iran. Yet India’s Ministry of External Affairs and its BRICS sherpas worked diligently to produce a draft acceptable to every member. All sides made significant compromises to reach consensus.

The resulting declaration sends a powerful signal: a united BRICS is prepared to engage with and reshape the global order — not by dismantling it, but by preserving its liberal foundations. This creates a striking reversal in global politics. The United States, which underwrote the liberal international order for more than seven decades, now appears determined to weaken it, tarnish its legitimacy, undermine core institutions such as the ICC and the ICJ, and render the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) increasingly irrelevant.

Contrary to the perception that BRICS seeks to challenge the U.S.-led global order, it is essentially pursuing a course correction. It seeks to ensure that the liberal order and its underlying principles are not diminished by double standards and unilateral actions, particularly those of the United States. BRICS is thus positioning itself as a defender of the fundamental principles upon which that order rests: state sovereignty, international law, international norms, and, above all, mutual respect among nations.

The New Delhi Declaration was remarkable and surprising in several respects. It remained consistent with the broad narrative advanced by India: that BRICS is not anti-American, anti-Western, or directed against any particular country. Rather, BRICS is an endeavor by states to come together to address common challenges and pursue mutually shared interests. What was particularly remarkable, however, was India’s ability to secure consensus on several highly contentious issues.

Four major features of the declaration deserve particular attention.

First, notwithstanding its carefully calibrated rhetoric, the declaration was strongly critical of U.S. trade and sanctions practices. It condemned unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures that distort trade and violate WTO rules. It also denounced unilateral economic and secondary sanctions imposed outside the authority of the UNSC, characterizing such measures as contrary to international law and harmful to the development, health, and food security of affected populations, particularly in the Global South (paragraphs 21–22).

Second, each of the three major BRICS powers — China, Russia, and India — managed to incorporate its particular priorities into the declaration. China secured a strong condemnation of unilateral sanctions, many of which are directed against it. Even sanctions targeting Iran indirectly affect China because it is the principal purchaser of Iranian oil. Russia, too, secured what it wanted: Ukraine was omitted. Far from criticizing Russia, the declaration remained entirely silent about the Ukraine war and its effects on global supply chains and the international order.

India, meanwhile, obtained the unified BRICS position it has consistently sought against cross-border terrorism, terrorist financing, and safe havens for terrorist groups (paragraph 40). The declaration condemns the April 22, 2025, terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed, and explicitly calls for combating the cross-border movement of terrorists, terrorism financing, and terrorist safe havens. Although the paragraph does not mention Pakistan, it clearly advances, legitimizes, and showcases India’s concerns about its........

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