Global South gaining agency

Southern solution: With its New Development Bank, Brics is realistic enough to know that while World Bank and IMF reforms are necessary, so is making plans of its own. — Brics

THE recent Brics and Asean summits have been important milestones towards greater global and regional multipolarity, despite sceptics still failing to appreciate it.

They either fear the muddled uncertainties they imagine in the approaching changes, or hold contempt for any country or cohort daring to upstage a dominant West. Their anxieties are typically expressed in panic or denial.

Yet global multipolarity is a reality in a diverse world. Despite being disabled by the inequities of colonialism and neo-colonial dominance, developing countries eventually develop and emerging economies also rise from within the Global South.

Democratic globalisation has made unipolarity give way to multipolarity. Even US Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledges this.

Brics has been an expression of this diversity and a realisation of the multipolarity that follows empowerment. The sooner this historic development is acknowledged, the lesser the challenges of adjustment later.

But the usual superficialities persist. Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin did not attend the Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro, and that predictably set off disproportionate speculation on some negative implications.

There was as much reason for positive speculation, yet that was rare. Since Brics is not a frivolous matter, policies are much more important than personalities.

Brics has achieved critical mass with sustained cohesion and new members, and its democratic nature needed no micromanagement from any particular country or leader for momentum. Xi stayed clued in on the proceedings and Putin attended virtually, so their physical absence this time proved their confidence in Brics.

This 17th Summit produced more than just the usual calls for democratic reform of Western-dominated financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It went significantly further.

Taking a leaf from the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga), Brics’ New Development Bank plans a Multilateral Guarantees Initiative to boost investment in member countries. Brics is realistic enough to know that while World Bank and IMF reforms are necessary, so is making plans of its own.

A particularly forward-looking Brics resolution concerns global governance in AI development. While seeking to benefit from advances in technology, there is also agreement on universal safeguards against AI excesses and abuse.

As Brics co-founder and its best-resourced member, China offered to establish a Brics research centre and to provide study scholarships on technology and industrialisation for member countries. Meanwhile other members may also contribute what they can to the collective Brics community.

Interestingly, the 2025 Brics summit shared a common theme with this year’s Asean Summit: Inclusivity and Sustainability. It is a sign of the times.

The United States’ trade war now engulfs the world, undermining inclusivity in trade regimes and the very sustainability of free trade. Brics has been the most responsive in offering a glimmer of hope in the darkening gloom. It represents a universal alternative to such grave common challenges as trade wars and other self-inflicted wounds. Brics champions UN processes in its multilateral efforts towards universal goals.

US president Donald Trump has reportedly threatened an additional 10% tariffs on Brics’ “anti-American policies.” Since neither Brics nor its policies are against any country, such questionable tariffs would not apply.

If however they are imposed in error, the tariffs as an import tax would have to be paid by the relevant US-based importers of Brics products. The importers may then absorb the cost of the tariffs, or else pass them on to their retailers or consumers.

If retail prices rise as a result, US market demand may shift to substitute products from other exporting countries. But that would depend on whether other countries can provide satisfactory substitutes of comparable price, quality and readiness.

To avoid such a mess Brics campaigns against tariffs as a universally damaging non-solution, without challenging the legitimate rights or interests of any country. If all that sounds strange to Beltway pundits, obviously better communication is essential.

What is the prospect of such an additional US tariff in the real world anyway? India will chair Brics next year, and of all Brics’ 11 members, India is the most trade-dependent on the US.

In jointly defying Trump’s tariffs, India and Brazil on Tuesday pledged to triple their bilateral trade. If the US is serious about wooing India as a counterpoint to China, it would need to “detune” tariffs to avoid embarrassing climbdowns later.

Responding to queries in Kuala Lumpur, Rubio said arrangements are underway for Trump to attend this October’s Asean Dialogue Partner Summit after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim invited him.

The hope is that Trump and his aides are now busy learning more about Malaysia, South-East Asia and Asean. More knowledge and better preparation usually help.

At the very least, they should learn much more than Bill O’Reilly ever did. But the fact that it does not take much to achieve that is still worrisome.

Bunn Nagara is Director and Senior Fellow at the BRI Caucus for Asia-Pacific, and Honorary Fellow at the Perak Academy. The views expressed here are solely the writer’s own.