Trump’s Foreign Policy Exposes Structural Fractures Within Russia-China Global Axis and BRICS Alliance

Newsweek editors analyze how Trump’s foreign policy exposed the limits of the Russia-China axis and BRICS unity during the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 9, 2026, 11:17 AM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from Newsweek

BRICS Fails the Collective Defense Litmus Test

The lack of a unified response to the strikes on Iran has definitively illustrated that BRICS is not a mirror image of NATO. Unlike the Western alliance, BRICS possesses no collective defense pact, no joint military command, and no unified foreign policy framework. Even with Iran’s entry into the bloc in 2024, the group remains an economic forum for emerging markets rather than a security coalition. The internal friction was laid bare as Iranian retaliatory strikes impacted the United Arab Emirates—a fellow BRICS member—proving that the group's members often have conflicting security concerns that preclude a joint military or diplomatic front.

Economic Cautiousness Drives Chinese and Indian Divergence

A fundamental weakness of the anti-Western axis is the vastly different priorities held by its primary architects. China’s global strategy remains tethered to economic stability and market access; consequently, Beijing has adopted a cautious rhetorical stance to avoid the secondary sanctions often deployed by the Trump administration. Similarly, India, which chairs BRICS this year, has largely complied with U.S. pressure to cease Iranian oil imports and has scaled back its involvement in the Chabahar port project. These divergent national interests ensure that when Washington exerts pressure, the "axis" tends to fragment rather than solidify.

Persistent Dominance of the Western Financial Architecture

Despite years of rhetoric regarding "de-dollarization" and the creation of multipolar financial networks, the global system remains firmly anchored to Washington. The U.S. dollar continues to dominate international trade, and Western networks control the majority of global payments and sanctions enforcement. This financial reality creates a "tethering" effect: countries that might ideologically oppose U.S. influence are still forced to avoid actions that would trigger financial isolation. Trump’s strategy has successfully leveraged this imbalance, making the cost of direct alignment with Russia or Iran prohibitively high for emerging economies.