'India at war with China… China gave Pakistan a nuclear bomb': Navarro targets Modi, BRICS

Washington DC: Peter Navarro, Senior Counsellor for Trade and Manufacturing under US President Donald Trump, has invoked India–China tensions and Beijing’s role in arming Pakistan with nuclear capability to question the durability of the BRICS alliance, while also taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Speaking to Real America’s Voice in an interview he later shared on X, Navarro said the alliance could not survive without exporting to the United States.

“The bottomline is that none of these countries can survive if they don’t sell to the United States, and when they sell to the United States their exports, they’re like vampires sucking our blood dry with their unfair trade practices. Let’s see what happens. But I don’t see how the BRICS stays together since historically they all hate each other and kill each other,” he said.

He went on to highlight fault lines among member states, adding, “Let’s see how this is going to work out… Russia is getting into bed with China. China claims they own Vladivostok—the Russian port, and they’re already through massive illegal immigration into Siberia, basically colonising Siberia, which is the biggest landmass of the Russian semi-empire, so good luck with that, Putin, and then India, of course, is at war with China for decades… It was China that gave Pakistan a nuclear bomb. You got ships flying around the Indian Ocean now with Chinese flags. Modi, see how you kind of worked that out. Meanwhile, the Brazil economy is going down the tubes because of Lula’s socialist policies—well, they keep the real leader of that country in a cell. Let’s see what happens…”

Navarro argued that the grouping would struggle to hold together given the historical rivalries among its members.

His remarks came after Brazil hosted a virtual BRICS summit, where External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar represented Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a post on X, Jaishankar underlined that India’s message was for BRICS to work towards stabilising the global economy, addressing the impact of ongoing conflicts on the Global South, and supporting reform of multilateral institutions.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, chairing the summit, noted that discussions focused on building a “just, balanced, and inclusive international order, one capable of responding more effectively to the demands of the Global South.”

“We will remain committed to actively contributing to peace and to building collective solutions for global challenges,” Lula added in his post.

The BRICS grouping, expanded in 2024, now comprises 11 countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Iran. It functions as a forum for political, diplomatic, and economic coordination among emerging economies. ANI