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US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on imports from BRICS countries if they replace the dollar in global trade.
The BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation comprising nine countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
While the US dollar is the most-used currency in global business, tariffs are essentially a tax or fee on all imported goods by importers and the additional costs are typically passed on to consumers.
At a summit of BRIC nations in October, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the US of “weaponising” the dollar and described it as a “big mistake”.
The BRICS bloc is pushing for stronger financial cooperation, which involves the development of alternative frameworks to challenge the Western-dominated payment systems.
Reacting to the move, Trump, in a post on X on Sunday, asked the BRICs to commit to halting their plan to jettison the US dollar in global 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.
“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.
“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.”
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the dollar represents roughly 58 percent of the world’s foreign exchange reserves and major commodities like oil are still primarily bought and sold using dollars.
