BRICS 2026: Trump’s Shadow Looms as Modi Hosts Putin and Xi in Delhi

A Summit Under a New White House

The 2026 BRICS summit opened in Delhi on Wednesday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi playing host to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the returning US President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade and foreign policy cast a long shadow over the gathering. Though Washington holds no seat at the table, the new administration’s tariff threats and insistence on overhauling the US-led global order are forcing the bloc to confront whether it can act as a genuine counterweight or remain a talking shop riven by its own rivalries.

India’s Balancing Act

For India, the summit is a chance to showcase its leadership of a grouping that now represents a significant share of the world’s population and economic output. Modi’s government has framed the event as a milestone in its “strategic autonomy” — engaging both the West and a multipolar constellation of powers. Yet the host must simultaneously manage long-simmering tensions with China, including unresolved border disputes, while deepening energy and defence ties with Russia without triggering further Western sanctions concerns.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs described the agenda as focused on “reformed multilateralism” and development finance, but the room’s dynamics will inevitably be shaped by the Trump-Xi rivalry and Putin’s need for diplomatic oxygen.

Putin’s Platform

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attendance carries outsized symbolic weight. Widely isolated by Western capitals since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin uses BRICS gatherings as a stage to project normalcy and cultivate alternative partnerships. The Delhi summit provides him with face-to-face access to leaders from the Global South, reinforcing the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia remains an indispensable pole in a non-Western world — all while Trump’s return muddies transatlantic unity on sanctions and military aid.

Xi’s Central Role and the Unspoken Friction

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s presence underscores Beijing’s economic weight within the bloc. China accounts for the lion’s share of the New Development Bank’s capital and drives much of the trade linking member states. However, the strategic friction between China and India inside BRICS remains palpable. Previous summits saw both leaders hold bilateral talks on the sidelines, but fundamental disagreements over borders and China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific continue to limit deeper alignment. Analysts note that the grouping’s expansion in recent years has only added more divergent voices, complicating any unified message.

Trump’s Shadow: Tariffs and a Shifting Order

The elephant not in the room is Donald Trump. Since reclaiming the presidency, Trump has renewed his signature tariff campaigns, threatening steep levies on allies and rivals alike while demanding that NATO partners and trade partners “pay their fair share.” His administration has also signalled impatience with multilateral institutions and a preference for bilateral deals that maximise American leverage.

For BRICS members, this creates both a common grievance and a strategic dilemma. On one hand, Trump’s trade threats provide a shared reason to seek alternatives to dollar-denominated systems and Western-led financial structures. On the other, the bloc’s dependence on access to US and European markets, and the widely differing economic models of members such as India, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia, make a cohesive pushback difficult.

“The summit will test whether BRICS can move from being a symbol of the ‘rise of the rest’ to a grouping capable of delivering concrete alternative institutions,” a Delhi-based diplomatic observer said.

Internal Cohesion at Stake

A central question hanging over the Delhi talks is whether BRICS can evolve into a unified geopolitical actor. Member states range from democratic India to authoritarian China and Russia, and their priorities on climate, trade, and security frequently clash. Even the bloc’s enlargement — welcoming Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and others — has introduced new fault lines, with some members wary of transforming BRICS into an overtly anti-Western alliance.

Efforts to promote local currency trade and an alternative payment system have accelerated in response to Western sanctions and the weaponisation of the dollar, but technical hurdles and political caution persist. India, in particular, has been careful to avoid any initiative that could be perceived as directly challenging the dollar or inviting punitive US measures.

The Road Ahead

As the summit unfolds, the world will watch whether Modi can steer the conversation toward a positive agenda — such as infrastructure financing, digital cooperation, and health security — while managing the inescapable pressures of great-power competition. With Trump’s Washington turning up the heat on global trade and alliances, the Delhi meeting may reveal less about BRICS’ strength and more about the extent to which its members are willing to subordinate their immediate national interests for a collective vision.

The backdrop of the 2026 summit is a sharp reminder that even as the Global South seeks its own platforms, the gravitational pull of US power — and the disruption it can unleash — remains impossible to ignore.