Brazil News & Analysis

Far from achieving their narrow goal of ending the prosecution of former president Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazil Trump tariffs have backfired on numerous fronts: strengthening Lula politically, accelerating Brazil's pivot toward China, and catalyzing regional integration initiatives that exclude US participation.

The 2025 BRICS Rio Summit reflects a contradiction at the heart of the bloc: while US trade threats underscore the relevance of BRICS efforts to hedge against dollar dominance, deep internal divisions and technical obstacles continue to hamstring its ability to actually do anything about it.

This week we cover the prospect of Beijing backing down in the US-China trade war; Brazil’s tariff preparations; trouble in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process; the fate of South Africa's ruling coalition; and Taiwan’s role in the latest trade tensions.

The BRICS Kazan Summit showcased the bloc’s strengths in advancing the interests of the Global South, but also some of the challenges in reaching consensus amid such ideological, regional, and geopolitical diversity.

There’s certainly a will behind BRICS de-dollarization efforts, but finding a way won’t be easy.

While down from their post-pandemic highs, global soy prices are still beating a slow retreat to historical averages amid robust demand from China and inclement weather in major exporters.

BRICS expansion may empower the bloc and rebalance the global order, but any thoughts of replacing it remain premature.

Although the BRICS may hope for a more equal world-order, they may soon find out that the standard they rebel against may not actually have been the worst structure for governing the world’s resources.

The BRICS grouping may have taken the world by storm, but the national interests of various member states continue to stymie the emergence of any meaningful pan-BRICS ideology.

The BRICS is a house of cards, not a strategic threat to the United States.

The dynamic interrelations between China and Latin America could function as both an indicator and a catalyst for larger transformations in global geopolitics.

For India, BRICS expansion is a major foreign policy blunder that puts additional power into the hands of a regional rival while restricting its own.

Outlining the logic behind potential BRICS membership bids from Indonesia and Bangladesh

BRICS expansion could widen the group’s geopolitical clout, but the process is not without risks.

As the world accelerates towards a green energy revolution, the demand for graphite, a key component in battery technology, is set to soar exponentially.