In An essay about truth Social On Saturday, President-elect Donald Trump said he would impose 100% tariffs on the BRICS geopolitical coalition of non-Western countries if the group withdraws from trade using the US dollar.
Trump wrote: “The idea that the BRICS countries are trying to move away from the dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER. “We demand a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor support any other Currency to replace the strong US Dollar, or face 100% Tariffs and sell to the beautiful US. Economics.”
“They can go and find another ‘sucker’!” There is no chance that BRICS will replace the US dollar in international trade, and any country that tries to do so should say goodbye to America,” added the president-elect.
The BRICS alliance is a coalition of non-Western countries that gathered for the first official BRIC summit in 2009, when Brazil, Russia, India and China joined the informal group. South Africa joined a year later, cementing its BRICS name.
Group at the 2023 summit expanded for the first time In more than ten years, he invited Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
At the same summit issue “de-dollarization,“ or reducing the US dollar’s influence in global trade, while not a new idea for the group, has gained steam.
Experts are skeptical Noting that BRICS will succeed in creating its own currency for global trade, pointing to internal strife among member countries and vast differences in the way countries manage their economies and financial institutions.
However, some BRICS members are among the US’s largest trading partners, including India and China.
US trade in goods and services with China, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative amounted to approximately 758.4 billion dollars Trade in goods and services between the US and India in 2022 total About $191.8 billion in 2022.
Representatives of BRICS embassies in the US did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This is the second time this week that Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on foreign countries.
On Monday, the president-elect He wrote in Truth Social he said he plans to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada. He argued that the purpose of the tariff would be to curb the fentanyl crisis.
In the same post, he threatened to impose a 10% tariff on China, writing: “I have had many negotiations with China about the large amount of drugs sent to the US, especially Fentanyl, but to no avail. Until they are stopped, we will impose an additional 10% tariff on all products imported from China into the United States.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited West Palm Beach on Friday Meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago Resort.
In a separate social media post on Saturday, Trump said of their conversation.very productive.”
Trump added: “I have made it very clear that the United States will not sit idly by as our citizens fall victim to the scourge of this Drug Epidemic, caused largely by Drug Cartels and Fentanyl from China. Lots of death and trouble! Prime Minister Trudeau has committed to working with us to end this horrific destruction of American families.
In a letter sent to Trump on Tuesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote that “migration and drug use in the United States cannot be solved by threats or tariffs.”
“Cooperation and mutual understanding are needed to solve these important problems. Until we risk our joint ventures, there will be an in-kind response for each tariff,” he added.
Sheinbaum and Trump spoke by phone on Wednesday, but only a conversation gave impetus to a “he said, he said“ dispute On whether Scheinbaum agreed to freeze immigration to the US from Mexico, something Trump allegedly did.
Sheinbaum talks in his memoirs He wrote in X “I explained to him the comprehensive strategy that Mexico is following to solve the phenomenon of migration while respecting human rights. We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close the borders, but rather to build bridges between the government and the people.