In 2019, Brazil takes the rotating presidency of the Brics group, the club created in 2006 that also includes Russia China and South Africa . But you wouldn’t know that from declarations of the new government of president Jair Bolsonaro or from the list of priorities from his Foreign Minister, Ernesto Araújo. In the new administration, the Brics have become nearly invisible.In the last days of his term, in December 2018, then President Michel Temer did convey indirectly a message from Bolsonaro to Brazil’s partners of the Brics during a summit in Argentina. The new president will be “honored” to host the forthcoming Brics summit in the middle of the year, according to Temer.Bolsonaro also had a quick meeting with South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa in the World Economic Forum in Davos in January -- the rotating presidency of the bloc is being passed from Pretoria to Brasília.But it is clear that, in contrast to his predecessors, Bolsonaro’s foreign policy priorities lie elsewhere.One likely explanation is that the Brics group became heavily associated with the leftwing governments of the Workers Party (PT), specially during the presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010). The club of emerging giants was an essential part of the South-South strategy which was a trade mark of his diplomacy.Most importantly, however, the new Brazilian government has started a radical reorientation of strategic partners, in line with the populist winds that have shaken much of the globe.Bolsonaro’s main ally is Donald Trump, followed by Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and the populist leaders of Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. Italy’s Mateo Salvini is already considered a close friend. In Brazil’s neighborhood, he has formed solid partnerships with Chile and Colombia, also governed by conservatives.That leaves the rest of the world in a limbo. Araújo, the new head of Itamaraty (the Foreign Ministry), has shocked the Brazilian diplomatic community by calling himself bluntly an antiglobalist.The new government rejects multilateralism, the United Nations and global pacts. One of the first acts of the new government was to withdraw Brazil from the recently signed global pact on migration. There was also talk of Brazil following Trump’s example and leaving the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, though more pragmatic voices seem to have prevailed and the country is sticking to it for the moment.So the new Brazilian diplomacy consists of few friends and limited goals, with no global ambitions. One of these goals is solving the crisis in Venezuela, and that, incidentally, is another factor to weaken the links with the Brics. Bolsonaro has made it clear that toppling the government of President Nicolas Maduro is a priority, and for that he counts on political and maybe military support from the United States. On the other hand, Venezuela’s dwindling number of friends include Russia and China, the two most powerful members of the Brics. Even the other two, India and South África, even if not staunch allies of Maduro, seem to have little stomach for regime change in Venezuela led by Trump, specially if it comes by with a military offensive.In the last decades, Brazilian diplomacy has alternated between two poles: one, Atlanticist, privileges relations with the rich, Western world; the other, strongly embodied by President Lula, sees Brazil as a natural leader of the emerging world and emphasizes historical links with Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.None of these traditions, however, has rejected the notion of a multipolar world in which Brazil is a balancing force. But Bolsonaro has come to change that moderating streak in Brazilian diplomacy. He has clearly taken sides against countries not formed in the Jewish-Cristian tradition, as Minister Araújo remarked in his inaugural speech in office. Ironically, a president that has promised to govern without ideological bias has made ideology a central part of his priorities.The relationship with China exemplifies this abrupt change. In the last decade, the Chinese have become the most important trade partners of Brazil, and have been treated accordingly by all Brazilian presidents.Bolsonaro, however, has followed Trump in his criticism of Chinese imperialism and appetite for buying companies and land. In the early stages of his campaign, the president travelled to Taiwan, a sure way to irritate Beijing. A visit by some congressmen of his party to China in January caused a storm within his political coalition, specially after criticism from Olavo de Carvalho, a Brazilian philosopher who lives in the US and is considered the intelectual guru of the president. Stepping on Red China was considered akin to treason.It is obviously still early to say how deep the change will be. Foreign relations have a way of acomodating themselves, as they are subject to multiple pressures. But it is already clear that under President Bolsonaro, diplomacy, as other areas in his government, will be very different from anything we have ever seen.