BRICS Foreign Ministers to Meet in Rio Monday for Two Day Summit

The foreign ministers of the expanded BRICS bloc will gather Monday and Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro for their annual summit meeting, marking the first ministerial-level meeting since Brazil assumed the presidency of the organization in January.

The BRICS group—which now includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Indonesia—represents an estimated 46% of global GDP following its recent expansion.

All eleven foreign ministers are expected to attend, with one of the key items on the agenda being the creation of alternative payment systems for trade. The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has previously threatened 100% tariffs on countries conducting trade outside the U.S. dollar system.

The meeting also marks the first formal BRICS summit since Trump returned to the White House. Earlier this year, Trump declared that BRICS was "dead," but now faces a reinvigorated bloc that is increasingly positioning itself as a counterweight to Western dominance in global trade and finance.

The meeting this year also comes at a critical time, as Russia, China, and Iran—all nations that President Trump is either actively negotiating with or, in the case of China, locked in a trade war against—will be sitting alongside some of Washington’s traditional allies, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt. This dynamic represents a major shift from Trump’s first term, where such alliances inside BRICS did not exist and where the bloc lacked the unified economic weight it now wields.

This week's meetings are expected to lay the groundwork for the BRICS Heads of State summit scheduled for July 6–7 in Rio de Janeiro.