Archive · 13 Sep 2026
India’s Rise Highlights BRICS Shift as Trump Policies Alienate Partners
India is becoming more important in world affairs because its economy is large and growing.
It recently hosted a major BRICS meeting in New Delhi.
US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said some of President Donald Trump’s policies are making America’s friends look for other partners.
He said this could reduce US influence around the world.
Scholar Allen Carlson agreed that India’s global role has grown.
However, he said China remains the strongest country inside BRICS because its economy and military are larger.
BRICS is trying to build more cooperation that could give countries an alternative to the US-led system.
The experts disagreed on how permanent this change will be.
They also noted that disputes between India and China could limit closer cooperation.
Raja Krishnamoorthi said India’s economic size and growth would sustain its global leadership.
He argued that Donald Trump’s trade, economic and foreign policies were weakening US influence and pushing partners toward other powers.
Allen Carlson said India’s international profile had grown significantly over the past 10 to 20 years, partly because of Narendra Modi’s foreign-policy approach.
Carlson described BRICS as increasingly important but said China still held greater weight because of its larger economy and military.
Both analysts linked stronger Asian powers and deeper BRICS cooperation to a possible alternative to the US-led international order, while noting that no permanent realignment had been established.
- Who
- US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi and Cornell University scholar Allen Carlson discussed India’s growing role, BRICS and US influence.
- What
- The discussion assessed India’s economic and diplomatic rise, BRICS’s growing importance and the effects of Trump administration policies on US partnerships.
- When
- During India’s hosting of the BRICS summit; a Cornell statement by Carlson was issued on Sept. 11.
- Where
- New Delhi, India, and in interviews with IANS.
- Why
- The issue arose because India hosted a major international gathering while analysts debated changing global power relationships and US policy.
Concern About Declining US Leadership
Caution About Permanent Global Realignment
Effect of Trump policies
Concern About Declining US Leadership
Krishnamoorthi said Trump’s policies were weakening Washington’s ability to unite partners around shared goals and encouraging countries to engage with Russia, China and Iran.
Caution About Permanent Global Realignment
Carlson focused less on Trump’s policies and more on the longer-term growth of China and India, saying stronger Asian powers were offsetting American influence.
Meaning of BRICS’s rise
Concern About Declining US Leadership
Krishnamoorthi warned that US friends, partners and allies were drifting away, creating a dangerous long-term trend for the United States.
Caution About Permanent Global Realignment
Carlson said BRICS was developing institutions that could offer an alternative to the US-led order, but he also cautioned that its members faced domestic challenges.
Scale of the shift
Concern About Declining US Leadership
Krishnamoorthi said Washington’s partners were increasingly looking elsewhere, although he stopped short of calling the change a fundamental realignment.
Caution About Permanent Global Realignment
Carlson said China had greater weight within BRICS and that the international system was changing, but emphasized that the shift had not happened overnight.
- Main event
- India hosted a BRICS summit in New Delhi.
- India’s position
- Krishnamoorthi said India’s economic size and growth would sustain its global leadership.
- US influence
- Krishnamoorthi said Trump’s trade, economic and foreign policies were causing partners to look elsewhere.
- BRICS assessment
- Carlson said BRICS was becoming a core part of the emerging international order, with China at its center.
- China’s role
- Carlson said China continued to have greater weight in BRICS because of its larger economy and military capabilities.
- Limits to realignment
- Carlson cautioned that the world had not changed overnight and that participating powers faced domestic challenges.
- Bilateral constraint
- India and China’s unresolved territorial dispute remains a longstanding obstacle to closer ties.