US President Donald Trump threatened BRICS member states with 100% tariffs on Thursday to dissuade them from replacing the US dollar as reserve currency.
The BRICS grouping includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and a few other countries that joined in the past couple of year. The grouping does not have a common currency, but long-running discussions on the subject have gained some momentum after the West imposed sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Trump had previously threatened 100 percent tariffs on BRICS nations — a bloc including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — if they create a rival to the US dollar, which he doubled down on Thursday night.
“The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar, while we stand by and watch, is OVER,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
“We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile 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,” he continued.
Trump’s comments on possible BRICS tariffs came days before a February 1 deadline he set shortly after taking office whereupon he would place 25 percent tariffs on neighbours Canada and Mexico unless they cracked down on illegal migrants crossing the US border and the flow of deadly fentanyl.
Trump had made a similar statement right after winning the November 2024 elections.
“We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs,” he said on his Truth social media platform.
“There is no chance that BRICS will replace the US dollar in international trade, or anywhere else, and any country that tries should say hello to tariffs, and goodbye to America!” he added.
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Trump posted his warning to the BRICS as Canada and Mexico await for his decision to follow through on a pledge to impose 25% tariffs on the United States’ North American trading partner from Feb. 1.
Trump wants to use tariffs as a tool to get Mexico and Canada to help stem the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, particularly the deadly opioid fentanyl, and also migrants crossing illegally into the U.S.
Dollar dominance — the outsized role of the U.S. dollar in the world economy — has strengthened of late, thanks to the robust U.S. economy, tighter monetary policy and heightened geopolitical risks, even as economic fragmentation has boosted a push by BRICS countries to shift away from the dollar into other currencies.
Trump has separately threatened China — a member of the BRICS bloc — with an additional 10 percent levy on goods as soon as February 1 due to a trade imbalance and its alleged role in the US fentanyl supply.
The acronym BRIC, which did not initially include South Africa, was coined in 2001 by then Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O’Neill in a research paper that underlined the growth potential of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
The bloc was founded as an informal club in 2009 to provide a platform for its members to challenge a world order dominated by the United States and its Western allies. South Africa was the first beneficiary of an expansion of the bloc in 2010 when the grouping became known as BRICS.
The group added Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates in 2023, and Indonesia became member earlier this month.
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