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US President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to impose 100% tariffs on so-called BRICS countries unless their governments agree not to create new currencies to replace the US dollar.
“The idea that the BRIC countries are going to move away from the dollar while we sit by is over,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform Saturday afternoon.
The group primarily consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, but has recently expanded to include Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Egypt, and Ethiopia.
The US dollar is the most used currency in global business and trade, but BRICS countries such as Russia and China are calling on EU countries to challenge the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency. At a summit held in South Africa last year, a proposal for a Brics currency was put forward.
“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 U.S. economy,” President Trump wrote on Saturday.
In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin argued at the BRICS summit in Kazan that sanctions against Russia since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would “undermine trust in the dollar and weaken the dollar’s power,” insisting that Western countries accused of “weaponizing” the dollar.
President Trump has signaled he intends to take punitive measures to force U.S. trading partners to comply with his demands, with threats of high tariffs on U.S. imports from those countries coming from Mexico, Canada and other countries earlier this week. This follows similar threats made against China.
President Trump said he would impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico and an additional 10% on Chinese goods, saying both countries allow illegal immigration and drug trafficking. denounced.
These threats raised the possibility of Mexican countermeasures, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a surprise visit to President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on Friday evening.
Trump won a convincing election victory earlier this month after campaigning on a promise to impose steep tariffs on foreign goods imported into the United States, including a 60% tariff on Chinese goods. .
