BRICS Meet Calls for WTO Reform to Break Stalemate, WTO DG Comes to Delhi for Meet

[ABS News Service/14.09.2026]

Geneva – The two-day leaders’ meeting of the 21-member BRICS coalition of developing countries that concluded in New Delhi on Sunday raised sharp concerns about “indiscriminate tariffs” and “unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures”, said people familiar with the New Delhi Declaration.

The BRICS leaders supported reform of the World Trade Organization by “upholding the foundational principles, such as Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment and Special and Differential Treatment for developing members, particularly LDCs.”

Issuing the 140-paragraph “BRICS New Delhi Declaration: Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability,” the enlarged BRICS membership addressed global trade, climate change, supply chains and the fragile security situation in the Middle East.

Leaders of the coalition – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam – raised concerns over sustained attempts to undermine the multilateral trading system through unilateral tariff and trade measures adopted by the United States and other industrialized countries.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala attended the meeting.

Preserving the Trading System

Under “Preserving and Revitalizing the Multilateral Trading System,” the Declaration addresses trade measures, including the unprecedented rise of unilateral tariffs, WTO reforms that seek to undermine foundational issues and immediate restoration of the Appellate Body.

The leaders reaffirmed their “unwavering support for reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and to strengthening a non-discriminatory, open, equitable, transparent, fair, inclusive, predictable and rules-based multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core.”

The Declaration explicitly upholds “the foundational principles, such as Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment and Special and Differential Treatment for developing members, particularly LDCs.”

In ongoing WTO reform discussions, the United States, European Union and other industrialized countries have sought to substantially change MFN and S&DT.

While committing to engage “in multilateral negotiations in Geneva, especially in the debates regarding the reform of the WTO,” the Declaration says BRICS members “will advance efforts and enhance coordination under the BRICS Informal Consultative Framework on the challenges undermining the effectiveness and credibility of the WTO and solutions to these challenges.”

Even though trade ministers failed to reach consensus at the WTO’s 14th ministerial conference earlier this year, the Delhi Declaration says that BRICS members “will ensure the implementation of the MC14 outcomes and continue to engage constructively towards the resolution of outstanding issues.”

It vows to “engage constructively in the WTO reform to enhance the WTO’s authority, effectiveness, inclusiveness, and relevance, and build an open world economy.”

On incorporating plurilaterals into the WTO, the New Delhi Declaration says it “recognize (s) that it is important to identify appropriate pathways for plurilateral initiatives into the WTO legal framework including on development-oriented issues, and to explore the formulation of forward-looking rules in the WTO.”

With reform of the Dispute Settlement System reportedly scuttled by major industrialized countries, the Declaration advocates “for the immediate restoration of an accessible, effective, fully functioning, two-tier binding WTO dispute settlement mechanism as a foundation for trust and predictability for all WTO members.” It calls for immediate “appointment of new Appellate Body members without further delay.”

Necessary Reform

BRICS members said they “look forward to working towards strengthening the organization through the necessary reform while upholding the foundational principles of the WTO and facilitating the negotiation process within the WTO framework, and to restoring the credibility of the multilateral trading system.”

Noting that “the multilateral trading system has long been at a crossroads,” the Delhi Declaration warns that “the proliferation of trade-restrictive actions that are inconsistent with WTO rules, whether in the form of indiscriminate rising of tariffs and non-tariff measures, or protectionism under the guise of environmental objectives, threatens to further reduce global trade, disrupt global supply chains, and introduce uncertainty into international economic and trade activities, potentially exacerbating existing economic disparities and negatively affecting prospects for global economic development.”

Without naming the United States, the Declaration voiced “serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO rules.” BRICS leaders said they “will work together to enhance the WTO’s responsiveness to trade disruptions and the needs and priorities of emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), as well as advance discussions on outstanding issues, and support balanced, inclusive and concrete outcomes that strengthen the multilateral trading system and enable it to better address evolving global challenges.”

On sanctions, the Delhi Declaration states: “we condemn the imposition of unilateral coercive measures that are contrary to international law, and reiterate that such measures, inter alia in the form of unilateral economic sanctions and secondary sanctions, have far-reaching negative implications for the human rights, including the rights to development, health and food security, of the general population of targeted states, disproportionally affecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations, deepening the digital divide and exacerbating environmental challenges.” The Declaration calls “for the elimination of such unlawful measures, which undermine international law and the principles and purposes of the UN Charter.” It states unequivocally BRICS members’ “opposition to unilateral coercive measures that are contrary to international law and the Charter of the United Nations, including non-UN Security Council authorized sanctions.”