US President Donald Trump’s targeted attacks on three of the world’s major emerging economies are prompting those countries’ leaders to strengthen ties and oppose his aggressive trade policies.
The leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa met in Johannesburg on Sunday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit to give greater importance to a trilateral group, called the IBSA forum. It is the first time in more than a decade that leaders have met under the group’s auspices, although foreign ministers have done so regularly over the years.
Trump has upended decades of cautious Washington diplomacy to maintain relations with the three major emerging markets. He targeted them with high tariffs and publicly chastised the leaders for their domestic policies. The US president snubbed the G20 summit in Johannesburg this weekend, a blow to South Africa and other developing countries working to reduce global inequality.
“Our group affirms that diversity is not a fault line but a source of strength,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his opening address to the IBSA meeting. “We must position ourselves as co-architects of a more representative and responsive multilateral system. »
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s absence from the summit – only the second time he has skipped the G20 forum – may also have been an opportunity for the three leaders to revive their trilateral group. Normally, Xi would find himself alongside Modi, Ramaphosa and Lula in the BRICS group alongside Russia, whose leader Vladimir Putin has not attended the G20 in years.
Xi has often played a leading role in forums such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which he cultivates as a counterweight to the US-led global order. He was also one of the few politicians who successfully resisted Trump’s tariffs this year.
China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment made outside of working hours.
VIDEO | Johannesburg: Prime Minister Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) participates in the IBSA leaders meeting in South Africa.
IBSA – a trilateral forum comprising India, Brazil and South Africa – focuses on South-South cooperation, global governance reforms and strengthening collaboration… pic.twitter.com/WGFxk3JzaX– Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 23, 2025
BRICS, however, is now dominated by the agendas of China and Russia, and its membership has grown rapidly over the years beyond the five founding nations to include countries like Iran and Ethiopia.
The smaller IBSA group gives the three leaders the opportunity to coordinate steps in a smaller forum, where they can execute policies more quickly.
“South Africa, which was previously happy to bring IBSA into BRICS, is considering forming a more cohesive group,” said Syed Akbaruddin, a former Indian envoy to the United Nations who now teaches at the Kautilya School of Public Policy.
South Africa has proposed restarting the IBSA leaders’ meeting on the sidelines of the G20, seeing the small bloc as more agile in making decisions on trade, market access and investments, according to Indian diplomats familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
Ben Joubert, a South African foreign affairs official, said that within the trilateral group “it is quite easy to get consensus and move forward on issues that are important to us.”
“The geoeconomic and geopolitical challenges we face globally now require better coordination and emphasis on IBSA,” he said in an interview in Johannesburg on Sunday. “We will put all efforts on the table to express and promote our cooperation.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said it was important for IBSA to have a different agenda from BRICS.
“I think that if IBSA persists in reproducing the BRICS agenda, we will remain in its shadow,” Lula said on Sunday. “I think we leave this meeting with a homework assignment: to begin thoughtful reflection on the future paths of IBSA, in preparation for our next summit.”
Trump’s tariffs
The IBSA forum last hosted a meeting of leaders in South Africa in 2011. Formed in 2003, the three-country grouping primarily coordinates global governance issues and promotes South-South cooperation, including through joint financing of development projects.
“We all agree that global institutions do not reflect the realities of the 21st century,” Modi said on Sunday. He described the summit between South Africa, Brazil and India as “both historic and timely”.
Trump punished India for its ties to Russia by imposing 50% tariffs on goods shipped to the United States, and angered New Delhi with his repeated claims that he had brokered a ceasefire with Pakistan. In South Africa, Trump boycotted the G20 summit and made false allegations of genocide against the country’s white farmers.
The US president also imposed high tariffs on Brazil to force it to drop the case against his friend, former leader Jair Bolsonaro, accused of plotting a coup against Lula. The Brazilian leader hit back at Trump, who has since moved to exempt many products from tariffs, marking a victory for the Brazilian leader.
The relaunch of the IBSA forum shows that Trump’s actions are pushing developing countries to consider economic integration themselves.
The Johannesburg meeting is not expected to produce major results, but it will mark renewed cooperation between emerging economies.
India’s participation in IBSA and the G20 is “significant” as countries try to “reduce risks and diversify supply chains”, said Veda Vaidyanathan, a researcher at the Center for Social and Economic Progress, an independent think tank based in New Delhi.
