Reports & Papers
QUAD After Trump: India’s Role in Fostering Regional Security | FNF Policy Paper
September 17, 2025
Towards a Resilient India: Fiscal Decentralisation and Empowering Local Self-Governments
September 19, 2025BRICS in the Evolving Global Order: Geopolitical Challenges and Adopting New Strategies in the Trump Era | FNF Policy Paper
Author: Dr D Dhanuraj, Aleena T Sabu, Adithyan P V
The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) coalition has emerged as a powerful bloc in the global economic and geopolitical landscape. The group remained largely off the radar of successive U.S. administrations until the return of Donald Trump to the White House in 2025.
Until 2023, even under the Biden administration, there was little active engagement or concern regarding the economic strategies and broader geopolitical positioning of BRICS. However, with President Trump’s re-election, countering the bloc’s de-dollarization efforts has become a central focus of his foreign policy agenda. He has explicitly threatened BRICS nations with tariffs of up to 100% if they continue pursuing alternatives to the U.S. dollar in trade settlements. This renewed American pushback indicates a major change in the global relevance of BRICS.
The policy paper, “BRICS in the Evolving Global Order: Geopolitical Challenges and Adopting New Strategies in the Trump Era,” analyses the evolution of BRICS, the shifting geopolitical dynamics under Trump’s leadership, the implications of the de-dollarization agenda, and how India is navigating its strategic and economic interests within the bloc, while also examining the broader future trajectory of the BRICS+ configuration.
After Brazil, India will be taking over the rotating presidency of the BRICS in 2026, and as the BRICS expands and gains momentum, this paper briefly touches on the priorities for India and the way forward.
The paper was originally published by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.
Dr D Dhanuraj is the Founder-Chairman, Aleena T Sabu is a former Research Associate (International Relations), and Adithyan P V is a former Research Consultant (International Relations) at the Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), Kochi, India.
Views expressed by the authors are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of the Centre for Public Policy Research.
