President Donald Trump issued a warning to BRICS nations threatening a 100% tariff on their exports if they attempt to replace the U.S. dollar as their reserve currency or back any other currency to replace it.
“We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile 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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday, mirroring an almost identical statement he posted in November, weeks after winning the presidential election.
“They can go find another sucker Nation. There is no chance that BRICS will replace the U.S. Dollar in International Trade, or anywhere else, and any Country that tries should say hello to Tariffs, and goodbye to America!” he said.
This is the latest in a series of threats the president has made toward foreign nations who refuse to bow to his demands. Almost every day during his first week in office, Trump vowed to slap countries (see: Colombia and Denmark) with some sort of economic sanction, a combative approach that, if successful, could affect everything from immigration to trade.
On Sunday, Trump announced and then reneged on tariffs and sanctions on Colombia because Gustavo Petro, the nation’s president, refused to accept deportation flights made on U.S. military planes.
The latest warning issued to BRICS countries is simply another example of how Trump is attempting to browbeat global governments to make gains on issues important to his base.
While it’s not immediately clear what prompted Trump’s latest social media tirade, his warning on Truth Social came as Canada and Mexico anxiously await the president’s tariff decision.
On Thursday, Trump confirmed that he intends to follow through on his pledge to impose 25% tariffs on exports from the two countries, which would go into effect on Feb. 1.
Unsurprisingly, Trump doesn’t seem to grasp the gravity of his threats—particularly the latest one against BRICS countries. An exchange with a reporter in the Oval Office suggests that Trump doesn’t even know which countries are in BRICS, mistaking the “S” in BRICS for Spain instead of South Africa.
BRICS initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It has since expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
BRICS doesn’t have a common currency, but the nations have discussed the possibility of doing so, according to Reuters. Still, BRICS leaders have already said they won’t acquiesce to Trump’s demands without putting up a fight.
Government officials from Brazil and Russia have already suggested that they will apply retaliatory tariffs to U.S. products if Trump decides to follow through with his own levies.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned that if Trump takes any action against the nation, it would respond in kind.
“It is very simple: If he taxes Brazilian products, there will be reciprocity,” he said.
Early Friday, Russian diplomat Dmitry Peskov dismissed Trump’s tariff threat, saying that there were never any plans for the BRICS nations to create their own currency, but rather they were merely discussing creating joint investment platforms.
“In all likelihood, U.S. experts probably need to explain the BRICS agenda in more detail to Mr. Trump,” Peskov said.
The U.S. dollar remains the dominant currency in global trade and has previously succeeded in defeating challenges to its supremacy. However, members of BRICS and other nations have argued that they’re frustrated with how the United States weaponizes the dollar and control over the global finance system.
The fact that Trump would now threaten BRICS countries suggests that he intends to continue imposing punishments far beyond what he did during his first term. And the extent to which he’s used these tools of economic coercion is striking, especially since Trump doesn’t seem to fully understand how these sanctions won’t just harm foreign nations, but also U.S. consumers.
As Laurence Ales, professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, told Fortune: “This inflationary pressure reduces consumers’ purchasing power, as their income does not stretch as far as it did before the price increases.”
“In the long run,” he said, “sustained higher inflation can erode savings and reduce the standard of living for households.”
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