BRICS Final Communiqué Falls Short on Urgent Credit Reforms
July 7—The 31-point Final Communiqué issued today by the ten full BRICS members makes clear that there is not yet a consensus on how (or even if) to create the new credit mechanisms urgently needed to sustain the enormous development projects required in the Global South, if peace on this planet is to be established and humanity to progress beyond the dangerous state of perpetual war.
The imperialist disease of monetarism clearly has the majority of the finance ministers and central bankers of the BRICS countries in its grip. The clauses in the Final Communiqué produced by the BRICS leaders dealing with trade in local currency, investment platforms for credit, and other proposed mechanisms to defend the BRICS nations from the dying IMF system were, by and large, picked up from the “Ministerial Statement” issued after the finance ministers and central bankers met July 5.
Finance Officials Echo Existing Monetary Structures
The premise of the Ministerial Statement is that the existing system can be reformed, while its state of hyper-indebtedness and overspeculation shows that such reforms will not work. They called for the IMF to be better funded because it stands “at the center of the global financial safety net,” and also talked up reform of the World Bank, in both cases giving the Global South greater say over the collapsing mess.
It appears the sole credit initiative agreed on is for a BRICS Multilateral Guarantees pilot project to be established in the BRICS New Development Bank. Essentially, this mechanism will help countries obtain loans at lower interest rates, with the NDB providing guarantees for specific projects, because it generally has a better credit rating than the applicant nations. Even here, it is specified that no additional capital contributions will be raised for it, and it is only to be made available to member countries of the NDB.
Putin's Investment Platform Proposal Remains on the Table
Mechanisms urged by BRICS leaders, however, have not been ruled out, even if the finance boys don’t like them. Take the case of the “New Investment Platform (NIP),” originally proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the end of the 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan. The wording in both the final communiqué and the finance Ministerial document on this is that they “welcome the constructive discussions held in the first semester of 2025 on the concept of the NIP,” and “look forward to the continuation of technical-level efforts throughout the second semester of 2025, involving Finance Ministries and Central Banks, to further discuss and build consensus on the Platform, with the aim that these ongoing deliberations will pave the way for more consistent and meaningful progress.”
The obvious behind-the-scenes battle reflected in the wording on the “BRICS Cross-Border Payments Initiative” is downright humorous: “progress has been made … in possible pathways to support the continuation of discussions on the potential for greater interoperability.”
China Balances Strategic Messaging Amid Trade War Concerns
But the Final Communiqué is not necessarily the actual outcome of the summit. In all such international meetings, it is in the face-to-face dialogue between leaders where new ideas are developed and historical decisions taken, which are not reflected in the consensus documents negotiated in advance or even captured in the formal speeches present. But some people report that there is much more going on, even away from the summit, which was surprisingly ghosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Sources in Washington and New York report that there may be a dispute brewing between the BRICS leaders on how to deal with President Trump's trade war tactics right now, with some people thinking that any moves that might appear to place the BRICS in open challenge to the bankrupt IMF-led existing system, or to challenge the dollar, might set off a trade war that would be destructive to everyone. While Putin understands this, sources say, it is Chinese President Xi who is most sensitive to the ravings of the raging bull in the White House. Xi believes that he needs to meet with Trump to lay the foundation of a trade deal before things spin wildly out of control.
It was the Chinese who reportedly inserted wording into the communique that said mechanisms need to be enhanced for settling trade imbalances and tariff questions, in cooperation with the World Trade Organization, which along with the GATT, Trump has effectively blown up with his "fair" reciprocal tariff scheme. The Chinese also insisted on wording that BRICS and its system does not seek to replace the existing global financial system, but to work within its frame.
"You also have to ask what the explanation for Xi essentially ghosting the BRICS summit?" one source stated. "No one has a real explanation for it.
Trump Tariff Warning Sparks Concern Amid Diplomatic Calculations
"The problem is that what the BRICS are doing and want to do, regardless of how they sugar coat it, IS a challenge to the existing, totally bankrupt system, which cannot fund its own debts, let alone fund massive new development projects in the Global South and East," said the source. "Even if they wanted to do it, they can't. But they don't want to. They have made the decision to instead go [for] massive military buildups, against who?—Russia, China, and the Global South's interests that they defend.
Both Putin and Xi believe that they will have to somehow drag Trump off this point, and into an alignment of not only his mantra about 'peace through strength' but 'peace through development', in which that development places the United States especially on a pathway toward the creation of a new just economic world order and the security architecture that must accompany that. They want to teach Trump to follow America's true revolutionary heritage, as a nation born in revolution against the colonialism of the British Empire, which still seeks to enslave most of the world and kill anyone who resists."
Sources report that Xi has recently reached out to Trump to seek an urgent summit, which sources close to the White House say the President will only agree to if it can make progress toward a trade deal. "This is the backdrop to the BRICS summit," said the source. "And what it produced is what one would expect, given those circumstances."
But even the meek character of what was accomplished was like waving a red flag to the raging bull in the White House, who has been thoroughly misoriented about the BRICS by the neo-con idiots that surround him. He declared today in an inane post that he was slapping an additional 10% tariff on anyone who works with the "anti-American" BRICS.
"Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump did not clarify or expand on the "Anti-American policies" reference in his post.
"I hope the meeting with Xi takes place soon!" said the source.