US President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday with import tariffs of 100 percent against the BRICS countries, including China and India, as they are getting off the US dollar as an international payment method.
“The idea that the BRICS countries are trying to get rid of the dollar, while we are watching, is over,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. “We are going to demand a commitment from these seemingly hostile countries that they will not create a new BRICS currency, nor will support another currency to replace the mighty US dollar. Otherwise they will have to deal with import tariffs of 100 percent and they can expect to say goodbye to the beautiful American economy, “said Trump. He already expressed similar threats at the end of November last year.
The acronym Brics comes from the initial letters of the founding countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. At the beginning of 2024 Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates joined Brics, Indonesia followed at the beginning of January this year. The group wants to act as a counterbalance against the group of seven (G7) of leading Western economies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly criticized the dominance of the US dollar and announced that he wanted to set up an independent payment and clearing system within the Alliance. The dollar is by far the most important currency in global payment transactions. By introducing another non-Western currency, Moscow hopes to have less trouble with the sanctions that the West Russia imposes through the war in Ukraine.