President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on the BRICS, a group of emerging economies led by China and Russia, if they decide to issue their own currencies.
President Trump said Saturday that the incoming administration will not allow the nine-nation group, in which 34 other countries are interested in joining, to undermine the U.S. dollar.
“We are done with the idea that the BRICS countries are going to move away from the dollar while we sit on the sidelines,” Trump said of the Truth Social (an acronym for founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China and the South). I wrote this in the group I took. Africa.
“We demand a commitment from these countries not to create a new BRICS currency or support any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar. “We should expect to say goodbye to sales to the US economy,” he added.
BRICS was founded in 2011 by the original five countries. Since then, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Egypt have joined, and Saudi Arabia has accepted an invitation, but has not yet officially become a member. At least two other countries have also expressed interest in joining the economic union.
Last year, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva proposed that the BRICs create their own common currency, similar to the European Union’s euro, to reduce member countries’ dependence on the US dollar.
Under the BRICS unified monetary system, member states such as Russia, China and Iran could avoid Western sanctions imposed for military aggression.
It would also ease Western efforts to isolate Russia and Iran, giving China an opportunity to strengthen its external partnerships and challenge the United States’ role as world leader.
Still, it remains unlikely that the BRICS countries will unite to form their own currency, given their wide economic and political differences.
As President Trump prepares to return to the White House next month, the U.S. threat to impose tariffs to block the move remains a key lever on socio-economic issues.
President Trump vowed last week to issue an executive order on his first day in office imposing 25% tariffs on all U.S. imports from Mexico, Canada and China.
The president-elect wrote on social media that the tariffs “will remain in effect until we stop drugs, especially fentanyl, and all illegal aliens from invading our country!”
President Trump also promised to impose an additional 10% tariff on top of existing tariffs on China for failing to curb illegal fentanyl exports.
