New Delhi Declaration pushes for cheaper and faster payments system and takes aim at sanctions and unilateral tariffs
Published: 9:13pm, 12 Sep 2026
Updated: 9:45pm, 12 Sep 2026
Brics countries agreed on Saturday to expand trade and payments in local currencies, making another step towards de-dollarisation as the bloc seeks to counter an assertive United States.
Facing pressure from Washington, the member nations found enough common ground to overcome some of their biggest diplomatic splits.
The pledges were part of the “New Delhi Declaration 2026”, adopted unanimously on the opening day of the 18th Brics summit.
After a closed session, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi emerged to say that no member had “objected” to the text.
The 45-page declaration said the group’s Payment Task Force had studied “cross-border interoperability of payment and messaging channels” and held talks on using local currencies for “trade settlements and investments”.
The task force was told to keep working on payments that were “fast, low cost, more accessible, efficient, transparent and safe”.
But the leaders were also clear about just how far they were prepared to go.
The declaration said there was “no one-size-fits-all approach”, and that national priorities must be respected.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Brics summit that the bloc was “not against anyone”. Photo: Handout
That caution matters in Washington. US President Donald Trump has threatened the bloc with 100 per cent tariffs if it “plays games with the dollar”.
In his opening remarks on Saturday, Modi said that Brics was “not against anyone”.
The declaration also does not name Trump or the United States, but it does criticise unilateral tariffs, sanctions and protectionist measures of the kind he has used.
It voiced “serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with World Trade Organization rules”, and warned that “indiscriminate” increases in tariffs and protectionism “under the guise of environmental objectives” threatened global trade and supply chains.
It also condemned “unilateral coercive measures”, including “unilateral economic sanctions and secondary sanctions”, calling them contrary to international law and demanding their elimination.
A separate line opposed “unilateral, punitive, discriminatory and protectionist measures”, including carbon border taxes – carbon fees imposed on imported goods.
Trump’s shadow also hung over one of India’s biggest diplomacy tests of the summit: Iran and the United Arab Emirates are both Brics members, and on opposite sides of the Middle East conflict that began in February.
Sherpas worked into the early hours of Saturday to find wording that all members could live with.
“The New Delhi Declaration adopted today gives a clear direction to our shared resolve. It is now our responsibility to translate these commitments into tangible results,” Modi said, describing the day’s meeting as “productive” and “creative”.
Observers said the calibrated language reflected the fine line India was walking as it pushed for greater strategic autonomy without turning Brics into an explicitly anti-US bloc.
Farwa Aamer, of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said India had positioned itself as the voice of the Global South and was challenging the international order that excluded those parts of the world.
At the same time, it was not pursuing an anti-West agenda.
“It has an interest in not letting China establish sole dominance in the region and within the Brics, and despite recent strain, it continues to engage with Washington,” she said
“India’s balancing act is a delicate one but with Brics consensus, it succeeds in asserting its own strategic autonomy and ensuring that its effectively hedging interests.”
Aamer described the language on the West Asia conflict as “a very balanced and somewhat restrained position”.
“Perhaps that was the only way to reach a consensus, not supporting any single national interest over the other,” she said.
Manoj Kewalramani, chairman of the Bengaluru-based Takshashila Institution’s Geostrategy programme, called the declaration a “compromise document, which underscores how far the interests of Brics members diverge”.
He noted that without naming the US, the text criticised it over protectionism, unilateral sanctions and the conduct of states in international institutions, including withholding assessed contributions.
It also confirmed Brics’ goal of revising the international order in favour of greater representation for emerging and developing economies.
However, he added, “the pathway to that goal ... is far less clear than the goal itself, and the reason is the divergence of interests within the group”.
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