00:00The threat of US tariffs and sanctions is limiting how openly BRICS members challenge Washington,
00:06despite growing frustration with American policies.
00:09Lancaster University Visiting Fellow Dr Guy Burton says
00:13this approach was reflected in the New Delhi Declaration adopted by BRICS leaders on September 12th.
00:20Well, so I don't think it's nowhere in the declaration itself, which runs to about 140 points,
00:26nowhere does it actually criticise or call out the United States directly.
00:31That's probably for a very good reason, because keep in mind there is this context, this backdrop,
00:37that Trump, the American President Donald Trump, is very critical of BRICS
00:41and he always threatens tariffs and sanctions against those who work with it.
00:47So I think there was an agreement that they certainly shouldn't name Washington.
00:52The declaration raised concerns about unilateral tariffs and trade restrictions
00:57without directly naming the United States.
01:00BRICS leaders warned that such measures could disrupt global supply chains
01:04and deepen economic inequalities.
01:06But Burton says members must also consider whether Washington's approach will change
01:11after Trump leaves office, as his policies could continue to shape American foreign policy.
01:16I think there's also one more point to be made,
01:18which is that we're now two years away from Trump having to leave office, assuming that he does.
01:25So he's not going to be in office forever.
01:28And I think there is starting, there are certainly from governments around the world
01:32starting to anticipate what might come next.
01:34And so one question is going to be how much of Trump and his MAGA influence
01:39is still going to remain with the Americans after he leaves the stage.
01:43There was, of course, back in 2020, 2021, some hopes that when Biden came in,
01:49that, you know, the malevolence of Trump would dissipate.
01:53Of course, that didn't because he came back.
01:55But there is some question as to whether or not he is going to,
01:58when he leaves the stage, that MAGA will leave with him.
02:01Or alternatively, MAGA just remains as an influence in American foreign policy,
02:07but perhaps a less abrasive form.
02:09So there is that uncertainty, I think, that's also got to be factored in
02:12to any way that the governments, including the BRICS governments,
02:16operate when it comes to the United States.
02:19Meanwhile, Burton said BRICS countries are emerging as defenders
02:23of the international economic system,
02:25as U.S. President Donald Trump himself undermines rules Washington helped establish.
02:30Often in the past, BRICS was seen as an anti-Western organization or grouping.
02:34I don't think it has ever really been anti-Western.
02:38It's been more critical of the international liberal order which the West brought in
02:44and which the Americans were at the forefront of, the Americans and the Europeans.
02:48But they've never wanted to abandon or scrap that.
02:52I mean, even a country like China,
02:53which is the principal challenger to the United States these days,
02:58its economic rise, its trading competitiveness has been purely based on working within the system.
03:08So what you see from these countries is not a desire to destroy the system,
03:12but to change it, to reform it, to represent them better.
03:16And it's also ironic that we're talking about this because we're talking about in a context
03:20where the Americans are effectively the ones that are trashing the international liberal order,
03:24certainly under Trump, you know, where they're challenging the basis of the trading system,
03:30imposing, you know, lateral tariffs, and even questioning their own allies in Europe.
03:35So you're seeing this shift, I think, this wider discussion going on.
03:40That's quite ironic that whereas the West was very much associated with the establishment of the international liberal order,
03:48it's now really the bricks that are trying to keep it operating and to keep it functioning.
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