President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday he will impose 100 percent tariffs on all products from BRICS if the organization creates a new currency or favors any other currency that replaces the “mighty” U.S. dollar in international trade.
“The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “We require a commitment from these 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, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy.”
Since Trump’s reelection victory earlier this month, BRICS has been bracing for the president-elect’s return to the White House. The intergovernmental organization is composed of nine countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. Other countries, including Turkey, have expressed interest in joining BRICS.
“They can go find another ‘sucker!’ There is no chance that the BRICS will replace the U.S. Dollar in International Trade, and any Country that tries should wave goodbye to America,” Trump concluded his stern warning to the geopolitical body.
Russia is reportedly seeking to undercut the U.S. dollar by pursuing an alterative payment system that would allow BRICS members to trade in their own currencies. The purpose of such a collaboration would be to reduce the financial damage that Western sanctions cause.
Russia would benefit directly from an alternative system, given that it has been hit with sanctions from the U.S. and European Union related to its invasion of Ukraine.
The threat comes days after Trump threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all products from Mexico and Canada if they don’t work with the U.S. to curtail the influx of illegal immigration and end the fentanyl crisis.
Since announcing the tariff plan, Trump has spoken with both Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau amid the heated tensions. The incoming president described the conversations with both leaders as “very productive.”
Sheinbaum agreed to end the flow of migrant caravans toward the southern border during a Wednesday phone conversation with Trump. Meanwhile, Trudeau committed to end the fentanyl and drug crisis that has proliferated alongside record numbers of illegal immigration under the Biden administration. The Canadian leader met with Trump at the latter’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday.
Trump also vowed to place an additional 10 percent tariff on all imports from China until it helps mitigate the spread of fentanyl. Mexico and China are the primary sources of fentanyl and fentanyl-precursor chemicals being trafficked into the U.S.