Overview

• China’s Xi Jinping is absent for the first time since 2012 and Russia’s Vladimir Putin is joining via video link at the opening on July 4 in Rio de Janeiro
• Delegates are united in condemning President Trump’s threatened import levies in their draft declaration without naming the United States explicitly
• President Lula da Silva defended plans to find an alternative to the US dollar and formalize local-currency settlements among BRICS to reduce external dependencies
• Summit discussions extend beyond trade to cover artificial intelligence, global governance reform and climate cooperation
• The bloc’s expansion to ten members since 2023 has boosted its global weight but deepened internal divisions and complicated consensus building