US suffers from dollar phobia, not Brics: South African envoy Anil Sooklal | Today’s news

Brics is not trying to create a common currency; instead, the grouping wants to make it easier for members to trade in their own currencies and develop alternative payment systems that will reduce dependence on the US dollar, South Africa’s high commissioner to India, Anil Sooklal, said.

Sooklal said Mint the push is not about challenging the dollar for its own sake. Rather, it reflects growing unease among emerging economies about the way the US uses tariffs, sanctions and its dominance of the global financial system. “It’s not the Brics that suffer from dollar phobia. It’s the US that suffers from dollar phobia,” he said.

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His comments come after the Brics summit in New Delhi, where the bloc’s 11 members managed to agree on a joint declaration despite disagreements over conflicts, trade and other geopolitical issues. Sooklal said the outcome was the result of months of Indian diplomacy and negotiations with member countries before the leaders met for the summit.

Key things

• Brics wants local currency trade expansion, not a shared currency project.
• Sooklal says US policy is accelerating interest in financial alternatives.
• Indian diplomacy has helped to secure consensus among the various Brics member states.
• The New Delhi Declaration showed unusual unity despite internal geopolitical disagreements.
• Brics sees itself as responding to a changing and fragmented world.

He dismissed talk of a shared Brics currency, saying the bloc was focusing on practical steps such as increasing trade in the local currency and building alternative payment mechanisms. These efforts, he added, reflect how many developing countries are adapting to what they see as a more fragmented and uncertain global order.

Sooklal, who served as South Africa’s BRICS sherpa in 2023, added that the way the US weaponized trade was causing more damage to countries than bombing.

He said the declaration from New Delhi reflected months of calm Indian diplomacy rather than a last-minute compromise at the top table. He compared the Brics result with G20, saying that no statement should be expected from the grouping this year.

Indian diplomacy helped to reach a consensus

The G20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union and the African Union. The US will host the 2026 G20 Leaders Summit on December 14-15, with discussions expected to focus on economic prosperity, energy security, technological innovation and resilient supply chains.

Sooklal said African members Ethiopia, Egypt and South Africa also played a role in building consensus, especially involving Iran.

“If you follow the Brics, mostly the ‘mainstream press’ is very dismissive of the Brics until the Brics meet. Then they get to work on it a bit,” S. Jaishankar, the foreign affairs minister, told a session on Cracks and Walls: Building Bridges for a Changing Worldorganized as part of the 81 United Nations General Assembly Observer Research Foundation, Reliance Foundation, United Nations in India and Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations.

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“We are saying let’s consolidate local currency trading, deepen it, create our own payment platform and tools that are being discussed from 2023,” Sooklal said.

He saw Brics’ growing cohesion as a response to what he sees as the collapse of the post-war rules-based order. Under President Donald Trump, the US has overhauled its global trade ties, moving away from traditional multilateral free trade frameworks to a bilateral tariff-based approach.

“The way the U.S. has weaponized the arms trade is doing more damage to countries than if someone comes in and bombs us for a few days and then leaves; we can rebuild,” he said.

“I’m saying that the rules-based order as we know it is over. And right now, we’re living in a world of disorder. Because if one country can send troops into another country and remove the president, what rules are we talking about?” Sooklal said.

Modi’s ties have helped bridge divisions

At the Brics trade forum last month, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal urged member and partner countries to build on India’s digital public infrastructure, especially the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and “trade with each other in local currencies to make digital trade global and together build the future of emerging economies”.

“I think the chair is always so critical to any statement. They put a lot of pressure on the chair. So you had to be very creative as a chair,” he said. Sooklal said the unanimous adoption of the declaration was the clearest evidence of India’s chairmanship, adding that the result was a result of New Delhi’s sustained engagement with key Brics capitals in the run-up to the summit.

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He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as India’s ties with Iran and the United Arab Emirates, for helping bridge differences within the grouping.

“The main role has been played by your prime minister and the excellent relations he has with Putin, the easing of relations with Xi Jinping,” Sooklal said.

Sooklal argued that the summit’s ability to bring together leaders facing international isolation or political hostility made the summit important. Global South. “And I think India was the perfect place for it to happen. I think it had to be the toughest Brics summit. For me, I think that’s why I said it was a moment for New Delhi and a very powerful moment for the global South to come out with a successful summit,” he said.