Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded his brief trip to India on Sunday with an offer to help Brics members develop open-source AI and smart manufacturing.

Summit host Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, warned against turning technology and critical minerals into economic weapons.

Experts said the exchange captured the wider picture of the Brics summit. Two days of diplomacy produced a united front against US tariffs, sanctions and “America first” pressure with a joint declaration, while heads of institutions Washington once dominated sat at a Global South table. Concerns over minerals and technology, however, exposed clear limits to that unity.