BRICS Gathers in Rio Without Xi or Putin as Bloc Navigates Trump Era

Brazil will host the annual BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro on 6–7 July, bringing together leaders and diplomats from the group’s 11 emerging economies, which account for nearly half of the world’s population and about 40% of global output. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is presiding over the meeting, which will be held under tight security: more than 20,000 military and police officers have been deployed, the downtown Santos Dumont airport will close, and fighter jets will police the airspace.

The summit will take place without two of the bloc’s most prominent figures. Chinese President Xi Jinping is skipping the gathering for the first time since taking office; he will be represented by Premier Li Qiang. Russian President Vladimir Putin, wanted by the International Criminal Court, will participate by video link instead of travelling to Brazil. Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are also staying away.

Delegates are expected to discuss the wars in the Middle East, the future of global trade rules and reform of multilateral institutions, while treading carefully around U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies. Analysts say the final communiqué is likely to avoid explicit criticism of Washington as several members, notably India and China, seek to limit friction amid ongoing negotiations over tariffs. Talk of creating a common currency or accelerating ‘de-dollarisation’ has largely been shelved after Trump threatened 100% duties on countries challenging the dollar’s dominance.

Brazil hopes to forge a unified stance on climate change ahead of its hosting of the COP30 summit in 2030, and to advance cooperation on artificial intelligence governance. Yet the recent expansion of BRICS to include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Iran has made consensus-building more complex, raising questions about how cohesive the enlarged bloc can be in confronting global crises.