A big surprise occurred in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) on April 29 when the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting could not reach a common statement after the meeting - a rare thing in the history of this group of rising economies.
Instead, Brazil - as a rotating president - issued a "presidential statement", revealing deep differences of views within the group, despite outside consensus on global challenges such as protectionism and the weakening of the multilateral system.
According to Brazil's statement, the foreign ministers expressed "serious concern about the risk of global economic fragrance and the weakening of multilateralism".
The statement did not name the US, but clearly implied Washington's unilateral tax policy - which has further strained global trade relations.
The surprising thing is that without a joint statement, we have never seen this happen in BRICS, a diplomatic source told Reuters.
From the group of 5 founding countries including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, BRICS expanded in 2024, welcoming 6 more members: Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Indonesia and Iran.
The expansion has helped BRICS account for more than half of the world's population and account for about 35% of global GDP (in terms of purchasing power parity), but also increased the difference in benefits and attitudes.
While the president's statement condemned "unilateral protections that are not in accordance with WTO regulations", sources said China - which is subject to a tax rate of up to 145% in the trade war with the US - has pushed for a more harsh tone, but not all agreed.
Another prominent disagreement is the proposal to reform the United Nations, including expanding the Security Council - a long-term goal of Brazil, India and South Africa. However, Egypt and Ethiopia are said to have opposed favoring South Africa as the African representative in the Security Council expansion.
The BRICS expansion brings more resources and opportunities for cooperation, but it also has its price, which is difficult to reach consensus, the diplomatic source said.
Despite the differences, BRICS countries are united in their shared concerns about the rising wave of protectionism. The president's statement raised concerns about "abusing green policies for protectionist purposes" and warned of "sloomy tax increases and non-tax barriers".
Brazilian diplomats emphasized that the most important common point is to protect the multilateral trading system, with WTO as the center. A diplomat told Reuters: "The important thing is to ensure that the global trade system does not collapse completely."
It is expected that BRICS leaders will have the opportunity to continue discussing and trying to narrow the disagreement at the BRICS summit in July in Rio de Janeiro.
