Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi argued that India's economic foundations would help it maintain a prominent role on the world stage, while also contending that certain trade and foreign policy decisions by the Trump administration were prompting allied nations to seek alternative partnerships and diminishing Washington's standing abroad. Krishnamoorthi described India's role as host of the BRICS summit in New Delhi as consistent with the country's pattern of convening gatherings of global leaders. His primary concern centred on how certain policies appeared to be narrowing the distance between allied and rival nations, prompting him to ask aloud where the country was ultimately headed. Krishnamoorthi argued that India's economic scale and expansion would sustain its position as a leading global power. He raised doubts about whether the United States was providing adequate direction on climate policy, economic development, and global trade stability, describing the country as currently absent from those efforts. He credited Trump's trade, economic, and foreign policy stances with prompting nations including India, Egypt, and Brazil to deepen their ties with Russia, China, and Iran. Nations throughout Europe, Asia, and Canada were similarly seeking alternative partnerships, a trend that Krishnamoorthi described as a long-term concern for the United States, though he stopped short of characterising recent international gatherings as evidence of a permanent shift in the global order, noting instead that while some drift had occurred among allied nations and partners, those countries remained willing to see the United States resume an active role on a range of issues; Allen Carlson, an associate professor of government at Cornell University specialising in Chinese foreign policy, observed that India's standing on the world stage had grown considerably over the preceding decade or two. The increase was linked, in part, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's more proactive stance on foreign policy. Carlson noted that India's role as host and chair of the BRICS summit reflected the country's expanding influence on the world stage. He pointed out, nonetheless, that China retained a dominant position within the bloc due to the scale of its economy and the strength of its armed forces. Carlson argued that expanding economic and defence capabilities across Asia were gradually counterbalancing the reach of the United States. He noted that both China and, to a lesser degree, India were presenting themselves as alternative partners to the United States across Africa and South America. In a Cornell University statement dated 11 September, Carlson outlined the consequences for the United States, arguing that BRICS had evolved beyond a nascent power grouping to form the foundation of a new global order, with China occupying a central role within it. Carlson noted that BRICS was working to strengthen institutions and build cooperative frameworks that could serve as an alternative architecture to the existing international order, with potentially far-reaching consequences for the United States. He pointed out, nonetheless, that global circumstances had not transformed overnight and that the nations involved were contending with their own internal pressures. Krishnamoorthi expressed a desire for cooperation between the United States, India, and allied nations to respond to what he characterised as China's economic, technological, and military conduct. He contended that Trump's approach to international economic and trade matters had diminished the capacity to unite nations around common objectives. According to a Cornell University statement, the enlarged BRICS summit held in New Delhi was set to address topics ranging from the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East to energy security, trade, and global governance reform. An unresolved border dispute between India and China continues to weigh on relations between the two nations. Carlson also pointed to Tibet and the relationship between India and the Tibetan government in exile as matters that could bear on efforts to deepen bilateral ties.
