More than 20 years ago, an investment banker at Goldman Sachs created a catchy slogan to lure investors to emerging market powers Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, collectively labeling them BRICS.
Running with that acronym, the five countries created a club that has now become a force for the G…
More than 20 years ago, an investment banker at Goldman Sachs created a catchy slogan to lure investors to emerging market powers Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, collectively labeling them BRICS.
Running with that acronym, the five countries created a club that has now become a force for the Global South to oppose a US-led world order, wrote World Politics Review. This club, which has doubled in size in the past two years, has now become the “hottest multilateral ticket in town.”
On Jan. 7, Indonesia joined the group now known as BRICS+, which has already expanded to include Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Egypt in 2024. It did so, Indonesian officials said, because it wanted to create a global system that is “more inclusive and equitable.” Now, Turkey, Malaysia, and Thailand are waiting in the wings, some like Turkey with “partner status.” Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, hasn’t decided whether to accept membership yet.
With Indonesia in the club, the bloc of 10 and a further nine partner countries now includes more than half of the world’s population and a greater share of its economic output than the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries. It controls a multilateral lender, major energy producers, and the world’s biggest manufacturing power, China.
The push to expand is coming from China, wrote Bloomberg, as it is trying to boost its global clout by seeking to build an alternative world order that challenges US hegemony. It wants to accomplish that by pulling southern hemisphere countries into its economic orbit.
Still, the news outlet added, the expansion of BRICS is “more about politics and less about economics.”
The expansion of BRICS has been backed so far by South Africa and Russia. Russia, like China, but for different reasons, would like to see an alternate system to the US-led global order, especially because it has been shut out of the world’s largest payment system, SWIFT, after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, in an attempt by the US and its allies to isolate it.
The addition of major fossil-fuel producers may give the bloc more clout to challenge the US dollar’s dominance in oil and gas trading by switching to other currencies, a switch called de-dollarization. India and the UAE last year began trading in Indian rupees and UAE dirhams rather than in US dollars, for example.
Still, it’s not so easy to ditch the dollar: The widespread use of the US currency in world trade is a cornerstone of the world order, while many BRICS countries’ currencies are less liquid. Earlier this week, Brazil, who took over the bloc’s presidency, said it would not advance a common currency but would look for less reliance on the dollar.
US President Donald Trump is furious about any mention of de-dollarization and in January threatened 100 percent tariffs on BRICS members. But Trump’s threats of tariffs against countries around the world may be making joining the BRICS even more tempting – to insulate themselves from such threats, say analysts.
Already, tariff threats from the US have pushed Mexico to expand a trade deal with the European Union (EU) and look for expanding opportunities with the UAE and Brazil, Foreign Policy wrote. Uruguay, wary of tariffs, has been reaching out to China, and South Africa, due to “bullying” by the US announced last week it is now moving forward on a long-delayed EU-South Africa summit to be held in March to discuss expanding trade and investment.
Regardless, the expanded BRICS is becoming a strong counterweight to the G7 – the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the UK, wrote the Council on Foreign Relations, even as it competes with other clubs including OPEC, the African Union, Mercosur and ASEAN, who all want to see a more “multipolar” world.
Still, issues in the bloc remain. Some members such as Brazil worry about alienating the West, which is why Argentina recently declined membership. India doesn’t want the club to be dominated by China. And Turkey’s application for membership was a shock to geopolitics: If it joins, it would be the first NATO member and candidate for EU membership to have an active role in an entity seen by many as a challenger to the West.
However, the club hasn’t been so unified in its stance against the West that it broke Western sanctions placed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022. Instead, Russia hasn’t been able to access dollars via the BRICS foreign-currency system because the other BRICS countries didn’t want to cross the West.
Some say the bloc is still too loose and unorganized to create any substantive challenge to the current world order. But others point out that more than 30 countries have expressed interest in joining, which makes it difficult for the US to punish a member country with tariffs, especially if China steps in to ease the pain.
“The size of the bloc makes it increasingly unlikely that the US will apply punitive 100 percent tariffs on BRICS countries,” Duncan Wrigley, chief China+ economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, told CNBC. “Doing so would risk steering nations neutral in the US-China rivalry toward Beijing and interfere with US interests.”
From Global Post this morinig:
More than 20 years ago, an investment banker at Goldman Sachs created a catchy slogan to lure investors to emerging market powers Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, collectively labeling them BRICS.
Running with that acronym, the five countries created a club that has now become a force for the Global South to oppose a US-led world order, wrote World Politics Review. This club, which has doubled in size in the past two years, has now become the “hottest multilateral ticket in town.”
On Jan. 7, Indonesia joined the group now known as BRICS+, which has already expanded to include Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Egypt in 2024. It did so, Indonesian officials said, because it wanted to create a global system that is “more inclusive and equitable.” Now, Turkey, Malaysia, and Thailand are waiting in the wings, some like Turkey with “partner status.” Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, hasn’t decided whether to accept membership yet.
With Indonesia in the club, the bloc of 10 and a further nine partner countries now includes more than half of the world’s population and a greater share of its economic output than the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries. It controls a multilateral lender, major energy producers, and the world’s biggest manufacturing power, China.
The push to expand is coming from China, wrote Bloomberg, as it is trying to boost its global clout by seeking to build an alternative world order that challenges US hegemony. It wants to accomplish that by pulling southern hemisphere countries into its economic orbit.
Still, the news outlet added, the expansion of BRICS is “more about politics and less about economics.”
The expansion of BRICS has been backed so far by South Africa and Russia. Russia, like China, but for different reasons, would like to see an alternate system to the US-led global order, especially because it has been shut out of the world’s largest payment system, SWIFT, after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, in an attempt by the US and its allies to isolate it.
The addition of major fossil-fuel producers may give the bloc more clout to challenge the US dollar’s dominance in oil and gas trading by switching to other currencies, a switch called de-dollarization. India and the UAE last year began trading in Indian rupees and UAE dirhams rather than in US dollars, for example.
Still, it’s not so easy to ditch the dollar: The widespread use of the US currency in world trade is a cornerstone of the world order, while many BRICS countries’ currencies are less liquid. Earlier this week, Brazil, who took over the bloc’s presidency, said it would not advance a common currency but would look for less reliance on the dollar.
US President Donald Trump is furious about any mention of de-dollarization and in January threatened 100 percent tariffs on BRICS members. But Trump’s threats of tariffs against countries around the world may be making joining the BRICS even more tempting – to insulate themselves from such threats, say analysts.
Already, tariff threats from the US have pushed Mexico to expand a trade deal with the European Union (EU) and look for expanding opportunities with the UAE and Brazil, Foreign Policy wrote. Uruguay, wary of tariffs, has been reaching out to China, and South Africa, due to “bullying” by the US announced last week it is now moving forward on a long-delayed EU-South Africa summit to be held in March to discuss expanding trade and investment.
Regardless, the expanded BRICS is becoming a strong counterweight to the G7 – the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the UK, wrote the Council on Foreign Relations, even as it competes with other clubs including OPEC, the African Union, Mercosur and ASEAN, who all want to see a more “multipolar” world.
Still, issues in the bloc remain. Some members such as Brazil worry about alienating the West, which is why Argentina recently declined membership. India doesn’t want the club to be dominated by China. And Turkey’s application for membership was a shock to geopolitics: If it joins, it would be the first NATO member and candidate for EU membership to have an active role in an entity seen by many as a challenger to the West.
However, the club hasn’t been so unified in its stance against the West that it broke Western sanctions placed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022. Instead, Russia hasn’t been able to access dollars via the BRICS foreign-currency system because the other BRICS countries didn’t want to cross the West.
Some say the bloc is still too loose and unorganized to create any substantive challenge to the current world order. But others point out that more than 30 countries have expressed interest in joining, which makes it difficult for the US to punish a member country with tariffs, especially if China steps in to ease the pain.
“The size of the bloc makes it increasingly unlikely that the US will apply punitive 100 percent tariffs on BRICS countries,” Duncan Wrigley, chief China+ economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, told CNBC. “Doing so would risk steering nations neutral in the US-China rivalry toward Beijing and interfere with US interests.”
A couple of days ago, some of us discussed that Musk wants the Treasury to be on a blockchain. He has control of it.
He is also heavily invested in China, the "C" in the Bric. China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), has a massive gold buying spree.
Fortune: “China resumed gold purchases last month after prices soared”
Bloomberg: “China’s Central Bank Buys More Gold as Prices Trade Near Record”
Reuters: “Gold surges past $2,800 as tariff threats reignite record rally”
Is BRICS dead or is this the end of the US dollar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M13Q8FIHYDA&t=2s
Devaluation.
More likely Musk, meglomaniac with delusions of granxdeur is burning the candle at both ends.
Aristotle said the sixth act of tragedy would be comedy and vice versa.
I got it now. Oceania, Eurasia, and BRICS