Description
The tariffs imposed unilaterally by US President Donald Trump substantially altered the dynamics of international politics. For some, the high tariffs imposed on Brazil and India (50%) worked to unite the BRICS. As these states tended to maintain closer ties with the West, rejecting more polemical matters in the BRICS, the tariffs would have arguably led them to adopt more favorable positions on proposals that were not in the US's interest. A divergent perspective is that the tariffs divided the group, as Trump applied different levels to BRICS member states. From this perspective, the BRICS members that did not face significant US tariffs, such as Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, preferred to avoid a more confrontational stance. As the group's decisions are based on consensus, both perspectives seem reasonable. This research seeks to assess that. Using official documents issued by the BRICS and its members, I will evaluate whether the tariffs altered the group's discourse and, if so, how. As this research seeks to identify transformations in power dynamics, critical discourse analysis is the optimal method for evaluating how the tariffs altered power dynamics within the BRICS. Assessing the BRICS' response is a crucial contribution to our understanding of this group amid rising geopolitical tensions.
