Brazil seeks to halt Brics advance

Originally published by Misión Verdad

* Available in Portuguese at Saker Latinamérica

* Translated to Portuguese and English by the Saker Latinamérica Community Team.

* * *

In an international scenario marked by worsening geopolitical tensions and aggressive trade policies promoted by Donald Trump’s administration, the meeting of foreign ministers of the Brics bloc was held in Rio de Janeiro on April 28 and 29.

The meeting gave clear signs of the direction Brazil intends to give the organization during its pro tempore presidency.

Despite the climate of cooperation and the unified discourse on multilateralism and the development of the Global South, the overall tone suggests a pause in the pace of expansion and innovation that characterized the Russian presidency in 2024.

Statements by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva revealed a Brazilian strategy aimed at containing the speed of the bloc’s transformation, which reinforces a traditional agenda based on dialogue, political neutrality and climate diplomacy; and indicated that it was at the meeting that this approach was defined, which limits the deepening of the logic of multipolarity in favor of a more passive posture.

First summit with an enlarged Brics

The ministerial summit was the first formal meeting of foreign ministers following the expansion of the platform, which now has eleven members, including regional powers such as Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia.

Also participating for the first time as special guests were the so-called “Brics partners”, a category created at the Kazan summit in 2024, including countries such as Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia and Nigeria.

The topics addressed, such as the need for reform of the international system, the defense of multilateralism and the promotion of peace, met with consensus among the participants.

However, the Brazilian tone was cautious. Vieira reiterated that the Brics “are not against anyone”, clarifying that there is no intention to create a common currency but to encourage transactions in local currencies, as a way to reduce costs and strengthen regional cooperation, citing the Aladi model as an example.

The Brazilian Foreign Minister also stressed that there is no intention to replace the current monetary system, based on the hegemony of the U.S. dollar, nor to create new currencies, thus distancing himself from more ambitious proposals promoted by Russia and China in recent years. In other words, Brasilia seeks to preserve the status quo of the dollar and restrict the options of de-dollarization to a purely transactional element, thus avoiding structural alterations in the global financial order

This emphasis contrasts with the Russian agenda of the previous year, which proposed more decisive steps towards an alternative financial architecture, such as the consolidation of the Brics Pay, a system hybrid cross-border payments infrastructure, decentralized on an international scale, the boosting of the Brics Bridge platform as a supranational clearing network, and the development of payment mechanisms based on local, digital and blockchain currencies with a view to reducing dependence on the dollar with a perspective of monetary and financial mutipolarity.

An ambiguous presidency

Brazil’s approach as president of the organization seems to respond more to its own international agenda than to a desire for transformational leadership within the bloc.

Under Moscow’s leadership, the Brics projected itself as an articulating force of the Global South with structural proposals in financial matters, such as the promotion of an alternative payment network to Swift, the expansion of the use of local currencies and the design of credit instruments aimed at shielding partner countries from unilateral sanctions.

In contrast, the roadmap proposed by Brazil in 2025 indicates a reorganization of priorities, more aligned with development, health, environment and social inclusion agendas. According to the official document of the Brazilian Pro Tempore Presidency (PPTB), Brazil intends to contribute – as in its previous mandates of 2010, 2014 and 2019 – to the “advancement of dialogue and consultation within the Brics on political and security, economic-financial and civil society issues”, which maintains its traditional emphasis on reforming the global governance system to give emerging countries a greater voice.

Under the slogan “Strengthening global cooperation with the South for more inclusive and sustainable governance”, the Brazilian presidency has defined two major priorities:

• Global cooperation with the South.
• Brics partnerships for social, economic and environmental development.

Through the interventions of its high authorities, Brazil projects a “bridging” role between the global North and South, more inclined towards conciliation than confrontation. Its narrative insists that the Brics do not seek to replace existing mechanisms or challenge the dominant international financial system, suggesting that Brazil seeks to shape a bloc that is not uncomfortable for Washington.

Instead of promoting genuine multipolarity, it prioritizes a transactional multilateralism that allows it to consolidate its economic ties with China and Russia, without breaking its historical geopolitical dependence on the United States. This strategy allows it to navigate systemic tensions without compromising its room for maneuver on both fronts, which translates into consolidating its business with China and Russia without compromising its geopolitical dependence on the White House.

In addition, the Brazilian presidency proposed highlighting issues such as the fight against climate change through the Amazon Forever initiative, a bid to attract investments to the Amazon biome with the support of “developed countries”.

This approach contrasts with the geopolitical and security line that marked the Russian presidency, focused on the consolidation of the multipolar order and the redesign of the international power architecture.

Brazil chooses not to rush the institutionalization of the bloc and favors the strengthening of its pre-existing international networks, in a dynamic that suggests a strategic use of the multilateral space as a platform for international projection.

New challenges

As the July 6-7 Leaders’ Summit approaches, the Brics faces a scenario marked by internal divergences conditioning its strategic direction.

The negotiations on the joint declaration of Rio de Janeiro, which will serve as the basis for the final document of the Heads of State, show a persistent tension between the transforming impulse led by Russia and China, and the commitment to pro-US moderation that Brazil seeks to imprint on its pro tempore presidency. This divergence was particularly evident during the Kazan summit, when Venezuela was prevented from joining the platform.

The negotiations for this text reflect a sustained position of the group: criticism of “unilateral measures” and defense of multilateralism as a guiding principle. However, the differences in tone highlight not only the different speeds that coexist in the bloc but also a deeper background: the clash between different interests and geopolitical visions, which oscillate between the preservation of certain traditional balances and the strategic commitment to multipolarity, which necessarily implies clashing with Western domination.

China is reportedly pushing for stronger language in rejection of recent U.S. tariffs on its products, reaching up to 145%, while Brazil, acting as mediator, is seeking a less confrontational approach. According to press reports, the final communiqué would maintain the criticism of these policies, but would avoid rhetorically escalating the confrontation.

At the same time, a shift in the discussion on the group’s financial architecture is taking place. In contrast to the previous enthusiasm for a common currency, the Brazilian authorities seem to have opted to prioritize the promotion of trade in local currencies as a gradual mechanism to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar.

Beijing, for its part, continues to profile the Brics as a “backbone” of South-South cooperation. Statements by the Foreign Ministry spokesman in Beijing, Lin Jian, highlighted the intention to build a “more comprehensive” partnership among its members and to defend “equity and justice” in global governance.

A vision that was reinforced during the bilateral meeting between Wang Yi and Sergey Lavrov, in which both reaffirmed the role of the platform as a catalyst for a fairer and more rational international system.

Vieira’s carefully chosen words have been interpreted as a clear signal that the Brazilian presidency is seeking to curb the geostrategic momentum that Russia set in motion during the Kazan summit, where proposals for a financial and security architecture alternative to the Western order were openly promoted.

In addition to the differences in tone and approach, Brazil has proposed a more technical and transactional structure for the coordination of the body. And the organization of 100 ministerial and technical meetings between February and July in Brasilia is evidence of a desire to institutionalize and technicalize the dynamics of the organization, but it could also be read as a way of managing political time to moderate the most advanced initiatives.

Instead of moving forward with more far-reaching structural proposals, the Brazilian presidency is committed to consolidating previous achievements and reinforcing existing cooperation, trying not to generate tensions either with its Brics partners – particularly China and Russia – or with crucial external actors such as the United States and the European Union. This strategy reveals a delicate balance between Brazil’s traditional Western geopolitical alignment and the abstract commitment to multipolarity.

The path that Brazil charts over the next few months will be decisive for the bloc’s immediate future.