WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday demanded a group of developing countries commitment to the use of the U.S. dollar as their reserve currency and threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff if they attempt to abandon it.
“The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, referring to the acronym for the original group of countries in the bloc — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The geopolitical alliance has since expanded to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates, reports Politico.
“We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy.”
CNN reported, the expanding group is valuable to China as it looks to forge closer partnerships with key players to challenge the United States’ global leadership. And it’s also a boon to Russia, which has been shunned economically and diplomatically by the West following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. This year, Russia assumed rotating chairmanship of the group.
During a BRICS summit in October, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping sought to project the message that the West stands isolated in the world, while a “global majority” of countries support their bid to challenge American global leadership.
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Officials from the BRICS countries have discussed moving away from the U.S. dollar in recent years including at the 2024 BRICS Summit last month. The concept gained steam in 2022 when the U.S. imposed massive economic sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.
Trump also said in his post that the countries “can go find another ‘sucker!’ There is no chance that the BRICS will replace the U.S. Dollar in International Trade, and any Country that tries should wave goodbye to America.”
The statement comes as the president-elect steps up his tariff threats, after he announced plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada and a 10 percent additional tariff on China over illegal migration and drug trafficking into the United States.
Trump’s latest economic threat comes days after he pledged massive hikes in tariffs on goods coming from Mexico, Canada and China starting on the first day of his administration. The move, Trump said, will be in retaliation for illegal immigration and “crime and drugs” coming across the border.
Since that announcement, Trump spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for the first time following the tariff announcement, but they have offered conflicting statements about the call. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to meet with the president. Trudeau said the Friday dinner with Trump “was an excellent conversation,” and the president-elect called it a “very productive meeting.”
