Donald Trump’s second-term trade war is inadvertently forging the very anti-Western economic axis he warned of. BRICS nations—once fractured—are now uniting under pressure.
Donald Trump may have tried to crush BRICS with tariffs—but he may be welding America’s rivals into a more dangerous union instead.
At first glance, Trump’s second-term economic strategy looks like classic trade war muscle: punishing India, Brazil, China, and South Africa with brutal tariffs up to 145%. But under the surface, something darker brews—Trump may be catalyzing the birth of a hostile, dollar-defiant economic axis stretching from Beijing to Brasília.
This Sunday, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Narendra Modi will huddle in Tianjin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit—another slap to Washington. It’s Modi’s first China trip in seven years. What forced the handshake? Trump’s tariff gauntlet.
India, once hesitant to trust Beijing, now ramps up rare earth deals and trade talks. China controls 85% of the world’s rare earths. Trump controls India’s trade lifeline to the U.S. The result? India looks East.
Even Brazil, once torn between the U.S. and China, is doubling down on yuan-based trade. Russia and China already transact 90% of their trade outside the dollar. South Africa isn’t flinching. Egypt, newly BRICS-aligned, could be next in Trump’s crosshairs.
Max Boot calls it “strategic malpractice.” Trump’s scattershot penalties are eroding American leverage, not enhancing it. BRICS was once a mess of competing ambitions—now it’s a war-forged brotherhood.
A common enemy always unites. That enemy is Trump.
Sure, BRICS is still chaotic. India distrusts China, and Saudi Arabia plays coy. But as Trump accelerates decoupling, intra-BRICS trade surges. National currencies rise. Anti-dollar systems take root. The single BRICS currency is on ice—but the multi-polar rebellion is already here.
Trump didn’t kill BRICS. He armed it.
