Founding members Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping were conspicuously absent while the US warned member countries of additional tariffs.

BRICS summit ended on Monday in Brazil following threats from US President Donald Trump, to which the group responded asserting its autonomy.

By Lisandra Paraguassu RIO DE JANEIRO -Leaders of the growing BRICS group of developing nations were set to gather in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, calling for reform of traditional Western institutions while presenting the bloc as a defender of multilateralism in an increasingly fractured world.