BRICS 2026: Can India lead the Global South amid Trump’s trade wars and UN crisis?

As India prepares to chair BRICS in 2026, escalating trade wars, UN funding cuts and global conflicts present a critical test for multilateralism and Global South leadership.

By ASHRAF PATEL

Donald Trump’s ‘shock and awe’ approach goes rogue in 2026. Attacks in Venezuela, strikes on alleged ISIS targets in Nigeria, ICE raids on US citizens in Minnesota, along with sweeping tariffs and visa restrictions, mark the opening salvos of Trump 2.0 in the second year of his second term — arguably the most disruptive moment in the post-World War II era.

The foundations of the post-war international order and United Nations institutions appear unprepared. As BRICS nations enter 2026, they face volatile headwinds marked by wars, economic instability and rapid institutional erosion. The United States’ recent defunding of UN entities has added another layer of shock to the global system.

Ironically, Trump is bringing his largest-ever delegation to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos at a time when Washington is imposing its deepest cuts to the UN — signalling a broader agenda of global deregulation. Trump, the anti-globalist? Perhaps not. More accurately, a global opportunist.

India chairs BRICS in 2026 at an exceptionally volatile moment. The graceful ‘Namaste’ gesture symbolises India’s timeless ethos of warmth, respect and cooperation. Its chosen theme — ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability’ — could not be more timely.

BRICS in 2026 faces a vast array of challenges to the global order.

Trump tariffs and WTO reform: How BRICS can respond

Trump’s tariff-driven iron-fist approach has pushed unequal trade deals with India, Kenya, South Africa and African countries under AGOA. US tariffs on Indian goods now total 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent reciprocal tariff announced on April 2 and an additional 25 per cent secondary tariff linked to India’s continued oil trade with Russia.

Trade negotiations have been strained since August, when Washington imposed its highest tariffs in Asia on Indian goods. The US has also demanded greater access to India’s agricultural sector — a long-standing sticking point that New Delhi has firmly resisted. Agriculture remains the backbone of India’s economy, and this ‘cowboy gunslinger’ approach to agricultural markets is deeply concerning.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is in urgent need of reform. As BRICS and G77 nations face a barrage of Trump-era tariffs and EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) trade barriers, the need for substantive WTO reform is unavoidable. BRICS in 2026 could co-create a Global South trade buffer fund to mitigate the effects of escalating tariff wars.

Investment and agriculture agreements within the WTO require consensus-driven solutions as the organisation prepares for a critical ministerial conference in Cameroon in March 2026.

UN funding cuts amid mushrooming wars

US cuts to UN budgets are both cynical and opportunistic. While American militarism continues to fuel wars and displacement, creating refugees and migration flows, Washington has simultaneously slashed funding to the UN, USAID and related agencies that support displaced populations.

In response, BRICS nations — together with the European Union, Gulf states and Nordic countries — will have to shoulder a greater share of responsibility. Increased funding for UN entities working towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is essential. BRICS must be bold in plugging these gaps, recommitting to the UN Charter and supporting institutions central to the SDG agenda.

BRICS nations can lead by implementing the UN Pact for the Future at national and regional levels.

Climate finance, green technology and COP30 commitments

BRICS presents a major opportunity to refocus global attention on climate change and mobilise climate finance, particularly for Africa and the Global South. The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) can expand its climate finance portfolio, while BRICS platforms can accelerate the deployment of green technologies across G77 nations.

It is vital that BRICS countries meet their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in line with COP agreements reached in Belém, Brazil. BRICS-led green industrialisation programmes, coupled with innovation — a core theme of India’s 2026 chairship — offer viable, balanced development pathways for the Global South, enhancing climate resilience and technological capacity.

Securing peace and development in multiple war zones

At the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting held on the margins of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2025, ministers highlighted the dangers of growing global polarisation and distrust. They emphasised the need for conflict prevention, peaceful resolution of disputes, mediation and preventive diplomacy in accordance with the UN Charter.

Trump’s renewed military actions — including attacks on Venezuela and the kidnapping of its leader — underscore the continuation of ‘never-ending wars’, a hallmark of US foreign policy. This war–peace playbook remains rooted in conflict escalation, enabling the US to remain the world’s leading arms supplier.

Africa continues to face intensifying conflicts in Sudan, Ethiopia–Eritrea, northern Mozambique and across the Sahel, exacerbated by climate change and reduced UN peacekeeping budgets. In South-East Asia, simmering tensions — from India–Pakistan border disputes to instability in Bangladesh and Myanmar, and Thai–Cambodian border clashes — highlight the urgent need for peace and security.

Here, BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) offer longstanding frameworks of stability — frameworks that India can strengthen during its BRICS chairship.

In the past decade, India was increasingly co-opted by Washington as a strategic ally in Asia and the Pacific. Trump’s raw and rogue approach — from trade wars and lopsided partnerships to UN funding cuts and WTO paralysis — is rapidly unsettling this trajectory and generating deep concern in New Delhi. This trend is set to define Trump 2.0.

BRICS and the G77 now offer the best hope for safeguarding the international order, advancing the UN SDGs and ensuring that multilateral institutions — including international financial institutions and the WTO — serve a genuine development agenda.

BRICS 2026 offers India and BRICS Plus a critical window to deepen a global agenda rooted in the UN Charter and Pact for the Future, strengthening multilateralism and promoting a fair and equitable world order that benefits the Global South and the world’s most vulnerable.