The failure of the BRICS group of countries to agree a communiqué during a meeting in Rio de Janeiro this week supports the criticism that the bloc has little in common and lacks internal coherence.

The BRICS’ recent enlargement, with Ethiopia and Egypt the new African members, will likely make it harder to reach common policy positions, further diluting the grouping’s influence. This challenge was in evidence as the two new members opposed parts of a previously approved plan to reform the UN Security Council by giving South Africa a permanent seat.

The Brazilian government has sought to downplay the dispute, stating that ministers had agreed a position and voiced serious concerns on the Trump tariffs.

Last October’s BRICS summit, hosted by Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Kazan, proved far more successful as a political forum – taking aim at the west’s sanctions against Russia, the Bretton Woods institutions, and Israel’s military attacks in Gaza – than in achieving consensus on trade or economic policy. Attempts to set up a Cross-Border Payments Initiative, an attempt to establish an alternative to the SWIFT system from which Russia has been excluded, also faltered. This was one of a suite of economic policies proposed by Putin that failed to gain traction.

If the BRICS can’t agree on policy, it stands little chance of becoming a geopolitical rival to the G20 or the European Union.