Former US Treasury official Evan Feigenbaum has pushed back against Washington’s attempts to pressure BRICS. He said the group will not collapse just because the US is shouting about it or imposing tariffs.
The Trump administration has increasingly seen BRICS as an anti-US platform. Recently, it imposed 50% tariffs on Indian imports, with 25% added as a penalty for India’s energy trade with Russia. President Trump even warned that countries aligning with BRICS against American interests would face an additional 10% tariff.
India is resisting through diplomacy. At a BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting held during the UN General Assembly, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said the bloc must stand firm for peace, dialogue, and international law. He stressed that BRICS should protect the multilateral trading system against protectionism and tariff volatility.
Jaishankar also repeated India’s demand for reform of the UN Security Council and highlighted priorities for India’s BRICS chairship in 2026, such as energy security, climate change, digital innovation, and food security.
In their joint communiqué, BRICS foreign ministers expressed deep concern about rising tariffs and coercive trade measures. They warned these actions could harm global trade, widen inequality, and hurt the Global South.
