Trump threatens to tax BRIC countries 100% if they act to weaken the US dollar
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to impose 100% tariffs on a bloc of nine countries if they act to weaken the U.S. dollar.
His threat targeted the countries of the so-called BRIC alliance, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have applied to become members and several other countries have expressed interest in joining.
While the U.S. dollar is by far the most widely used currency in global affairs and has survived past challenges to its preeminence, alliance members and other developing countries say they have enough of the American position. domination of the global financial system.
The dollar represents approximately 58% of global foreign exchange reserves, according to the IMF and major commodities like oil are still primarily bought and sold in dollars. The dollar’s dominance, however, is threatened by the BRICS’ growing share of GDP and the alliance’s intention to trade in currencies other than the dollar – a process known as dedollarization.
Trump, in an article for Truth Social, said: “We demand that these countries commit not to create a new BRICS currency, nor support another currency to replace the powerful US dollar, or they will face 100% tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling in the wonderful American economy. »
At a summit of BRIC countries in October, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of ‘weaponizing the dollar’ and described it as a “big mistake”.
“It is not us who refuse to use the dollar,” Putin said at the time. “But if they don’t let us work, what can we do? We are forced to look for alternatives.
Russia has specifically pushed for the creation of a new payments system that would offer an alternative to the global banking messaging network, SWIFT, and allow Moscow to avoid Western sanctions and trade with its partners.
Trump said there was “zero chance” that the BRICs would replace the U.S. dollar in global trade and that any country that tried to do so “should say goodbye to America.”
Research shows that the role of the US dollar as the main global reserve currency is not under threat in the near future.
A Atlantic Council Model which assesses the dollar’s place as the world’s leading reserve currency, says the dollar is “safe in the short to medium term” and continues to dominate other currencies.
Trump’s latest tariff threat comes after he threatened to impose 25% tariffs on everything imported from Mexico and Canada, as well as an additional 10% tax on goods from China to force countries to do more to stop the flow of illegal immigration and drugs into the United States
He has since had a telephone conversation with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who said Thursday that she was convinced that a tariff war with the United States can be avoided. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau He returned home Saturday after meeting with Trump, without assurances that the president-elect would back down from threatening tariffs on Canada.
