Brazil’s top presidential advisor Celso Amorim’s remarks arrive at a moment when global resistance to US economic coercion is intensifying, and they underscore how Washington’s escalating tariff pressure under President Trump is, paradoxically, accelerating strategic alignment between major Global South economies — especially Brazil and India. His comments reveal a widening convergence between the two countries on defence, technology, and currency cooperation, even as both work to insulate themselves from unilateral American actions and reinforce a multipolar trading order.
Amorim described how new defence partnerships are unfolding, including Brazil’s interest in India’s Akash air-defence systems and discussions on expanding joint development in aerospace, naval projects and high-technology sectors. These initiatives reflect a broader trend: as US tariffs and geopolitical pressure destabilise trade relationships, countries such as Brazil and India are deliberately diversifying defence procurement and strengthening South-South ties to reduce dependence on the United States.
At the core of Amorim’s analysis is a quiet but steady shift toward de-dollarisation. He explained that neither Brazil nor India seeks to overthrow the dollar by forceful declaration; instead, de-dollarisation is emerging as an organic response to structural changes in the world economy and growing dissatisfaction with Washington’s use of the currency as a geopolitical weapon. Both countries are expanding trade in local currencies, exploring rupee–real settlement systems, and working to interconnect rapid-payment networks such as Brazil’s PIX and India’s digital platforms. For Amorim, this is not a political revolt but a practical evolution: currencies should reflect economic realities rather than the dominance of a financial architecture built when the US economy was far larger relative to the world.
Trump’s tariff campaigns — which have targeted Brazil and India despite their efforts to maintain balanced ties — only hasten this reconfiguration. Amorim dismissed the threats as “ghosts,” arguing that the US now depends on large emerging economies just as much as they depend on it. Yet he made clear that unilateral tariffs undermine the very multilateral trading system the US once championed, reinforcing the Global South’s push to build alternative frameworks through platforms like BRICS.
His remarks on BRICS also reveal a strategic patience within the bloc. Amorim agreed that creating a BRICS currency must be a gradual, trust-based process, not a symbolic challenge to the dollar. He emphasised that the real breakthrough lies in expanding bilateral currency trade first and allowing broader BRICS mechanisms to evolve naturally — a view that aligns closely with statements from Russia and India.
The interview also highlighted Brazil’s geopolitical balancing act as it manages relations with Washington, Moscow, Beijing and New Delhi while defending regional autonomy in South America. Amorim warned that any US military intervention in Venezuela would destabilise the continent and violate international law, stressing that dialogue — not coercion — is the only durable path forward. His framing reflects widespread concern across Latin America that US pressure risks triggering a security crisis in a region that has largely avoided interstate conflict for decades.
Taken together, Amorim’s insights paint a clear picture: Trump’s aggressive tariff diplomacy is pushing Brazil and India into deeper strategic coordination, accelerating experimentation with non-dollar systems, and strengthening Global South coalitions committed to defending multilateralism. Rather than isolating countries through economic pressure, Washington is inadvertently driving them toward one another — and toward a long-term rebalancing of the global financial order.
