February 27, 2026

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Brazil and India Deepen Strategic Ties

(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio da Silva’s recent visit to India with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi marks a significant step in deepening strategic and economic ties between the two middle powers. Last week’s visit saw one of the largest Brazilian delegations to India, with 11 government ministers and hundreds of private-sector leaders in attendance. The trip centered on a newly signed critical minerals and mining cooperation pact, which will focus on attracting investment for exploration, mining, and steel-sector infrastructure, according to an official statement. Specifically, the pact is designed to help meet India’s growing demand for steel. Brazil is one of the world’s top producers of iron ore and possesses other minerals necessary for steelmaking, and accounts for the second-largest rare earth reserves globally, only behind China. President Lula emphasized that “Increasing investments and cooperation in matters of renewable energy and critical minerals is at the core of a pioneering agreement that we have signed today.”

Also coming out of the meeting is the agreement by both leaders to set a bilateral trade target of more than $20 billion over the next five years, up from roughly $15 billion. India already ranks among Brazil’s top export destinations, and Brazil is India’s largest trading partner in Latin America. The two countries have been strategic partners since 2006, collaborating on trade across energy, agricultural, healthcare, and other sectors, especially as India’s growth puts it on track this year to become the world’s fourth-largest economy. The partnership has also expanded to cover industrial and technological sectors. For example, aviation companies Adani Group from India and Embraer from Brazil recently formalized an enhanced Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a final assembly line for the Embraer-manufactured E175 jet in India. Brazil and India also maintain military cooperation through the 8th Joint Defense Committee meeting — aimed at enhancing military and defensive ties between the two countries — taking place last July.

Lula’s visit also coincided with the India AI Impact Summit, India’s leading forum on artificial intelligence, in which Lula participated and delivered a speech. His speech articulated Brazil’s perspective on AI governance, emphasizing the need for inclusive frameworks that benefit the Global South, as well as for curbing the harmful effects of AI, such as disinformation, deep fakes, and other corrosive impacts. Reflecting Brasília's stance on AI, Brazil and India announced the launch of the Open Planetary Intelligence Network (OPIN) at the Summit, an initiative to utilize AI to “transform fragmented data into actionable planetary intelligence” for the benefit of the Global South, according to a statement. Planetary intelligence refers to the coupling of AI and satellites to physically observe our planet, enabling real-time understanding of the world and prediction of environmental impacts.

The partnership between Brazil and India is particularly strong as both countries have been navigating the consequences of the steep tariffs imposed by the United States under U.S. President Donald Trump, though a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling has since struck many of those tariffs. For Brazil, tensions escalated in 2025 amid broader political friction between Brasília and Washington, partially over the persecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Tariffs of up to 50 percent were imposed on certain Brazilian exports, including agricultural products and steel. For India, geopolitical tensions with Washington prompted significant tariffs, up to 50 percent, surrounding India’s discounted purchase of Russian oil.

This shared experience has made the deepening of the Brazil-India relationship even more geopolitically significant. Their growing cooperation, particularly surrounding critical minerals, reflects their shared hedge against global powers in an era of great power competition. At the same time, this partnership has recalibrated aspects of economic exposure with China. The recent pact on critical minerals underscores New Delhi's desire to diversify away from relying on China for rare-earth elements and other critical minerals — components essential for technologies such as electric vehicles, smartphones, and renewable energy systems — which Brasília sees as an opportunity to expand its commercial partnerships.

As members of BRICS, Brazil and India are not only coordinating on trade and development, but also in the broader effort to reshape multilateral governance. BRICS countries, including other members such as China, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, have increasingly positioned themselves as alternatives to Western-led institutions in areas such as investment, peace negotiations, and military cooperation. The expansion of BRICS now represents approximately 45 percent of the world’s population, 35 percent of the world’s GDP, and 30 percent of the world’s oil, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Taken together, the strengthening of the Brazil-India partnership illustrates a wider trend: middle powers are coordinating more closely to secure supply chains, expand strategic autonomy, and hedge against volatility in the current international order. By building more diverse partnerships and reducing dependencies, both countries are asserting greater agency in a global system increasingly defined by great-power competition and volatility.