Trump Threatens 100% Tariffs on BRICS Countries
President-elect Donald Trump tweeted a threat on Nov. 30 that he had earlier made on the campaign trail -- that he will impose 100% tariffs on exports from countries who try to create a workaround to trading in dollars, the world's reserve currency.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
He wrote: "The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER. 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."
BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates are also in the BRICS alliance, and Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have applied to join.
The Associated Press reported that Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said more countries are using their own currency for international trade, rather than dollars, and that if the U.S. government tries to force countries to use the dollar, that trend will accelerate.
Russia and Iran often need to avoid the dollar because of extraterritorial sanctions imposed by the U.S.
A Chinese spokesperson at the U.S. embassy tweeted that the U.S. uses its "dollar hegemony" as a "geopolitical tool, which damages international economic and financial stability, and disrupts international order. We firmly oppose it." He said BRICS "plays a crucial role in the process of improving the international monetary and financial system" and "will keep on fostering economic and financial cooperation and reforming the current international financial architecture, so as to meet the global financial challenges including global economic governance, and to make the international financial architecture more inclusive and just."