President-elect Donald Trump has warned the BRICS countries of possible sanctions against the US economy if they follow through on plans to weaken the US dollar.
“We need a commitment that they will not create a new BRICS currency, replace the mighty US dollar with another currency or face 100 percent tariffs,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website. Will have to.” The grouping includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and others.
The statement came after last month’s BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, where countries discussed expanding non-dollar transactions and strengthening local currencies.
The BRICS group has expanded significantly since its formation in 2009, and now includes countries such as Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. The BRICS alliance as a whole accounts for a significant minority of the world’s economic output.
At the Kazan summit in October, Moscow secured a joint declaration encouraging “strengthening of relevant banking networks within the BRICS and enabling settlement in local currencies in line with the BRICS cross-border payments initiative”.
But at the end of the summit, Putin indicated that little progress had been made on launching a potential competitor to the Belgium-based Swift financial messaging system.
“As for SWIFT and an alternative, we have not created and are not creating an alternative,” Putin told reporters at the end of the summit.
He added: “As far as a unified BRICS currency is concerned, we are not considering that question at the moment.”
Trump has vowed to pursue a protectionist agenda, threatening heavy tariffs on neighbors and rivals.
Trump warned that if the BRICS countries continue with their plans, they should “expect to say goodbye to sales in America’s wonderful economy,” he wrote.
“They can find another ‘Soccer’! There is no chance that BRICS will replace the US dollar in international trade and any country that tries will say goodbye to the US.”