The global economy is now fully multipolar in production and consumption, yet its financial backbone still runs through a single national currency. That mismatch — a 21st‑century world running on 1944 plumbing — is what BRICS is trying to correct. Not by dethroning the dollar with the renminbi, but by building a neutral clearing system that avoids the trap of replacing one hegemon with another.
Middle powers are accelerating diversification and flexible coalitions as U.S. unilateralism erodes old alliances, pushing Brazil, Canada, and South Korea to pursue cooperative multipolarity and institutional reform to preserve autonomy in a rapidly shifting global order.
This article examines how Latin America’s deep-seated integration into Chinese trade networks—exceeding $515 billion in 2024—overrides the region’s recent rightward political shifts. Using case studies from Argentina’s soy exports to Brazil’s response to U.S. tariffs, it argues that economic pragmatism and the “commercial logic of resource extraction” remain more influential than ideological alignment with Washington.
In January 2026, the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces stands as the ultimate consequence of a leader who gambled on regional aggression and lost. While Operation Absolute Resolve was the kinetic end, Maduro’s downfall was structurally prepared by his systematic alienation of every neighbor that once formed his “Bolivarian” shield.
Brazil’s foreign policy is influenced by a unique historical context; unlike many Global South countries with colonial histories, Brazil’s frustrations arise from its exclusion from the leadership of the postwar order it helped create. This ongoing disappointment informs Brazilian diplomacy, fueling campaigns for institutional reform and recognition, reflecting both ambition and insecurity.
