Trump again threatens BRICS countries of additional tariffs
Trump previously accused the 11-member BRICS grouping of pushing “anti-American policies” after the BRICS leaders level summit in Brazil this month
Washington DC US President Donald Trump reiterated his threats towards BRICS nations on Friday, just weeks after threatening additional tariffs on members of the grouping.
“When I hear about this BRICS group, basically six countries, I hit them hard. If they ever really form in a meaningful way, it will end very quickly,” Trump said while signing a new cryptocurrency bill into law.
Trump previously accused the 11-member BRICS grouping of pushing “anti-American policies” after the BRICS leaders level summit which took place in Brazil earlier this month. A joint statement released after the meeting appeared to criticise US military strikes on Iran as well as tariff policies that had disrupted international trade. Soon afterwards, Trump announced that BRICS nations would face a 10% tariff on exports to the United States on Truth Social, his social media platform.
The American President has been particularly incensed by the BRICS grouping’s perceived efforts to undercut the status of the US dollar as the global reserve currency.
“BRICS was put there for a bad purpose..I told them if they want to play games with the dollar, then they are going to be hit by a 100% tariff,” US President Donald Trump said earlier this year.
“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 US Dollar. Or, they will face 100 per cent Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US Economy,” Trump said in January this year.
Brazil’s President Lula Da Silva and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had earlier expressed some support for the idea of a common BRICS currency. However, India has been quick to deny any such proposals. Instead, New Delhi has said, BRICS nations are focusing on undertaking more trade in national currencies. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also categorically stated that India had no interest in undermining the position of the dollar in the international economic system in December last year.
Speaking on Friday, Trump declared that losing the dollar’s status would be similar to losing a world war for the United States.
The BRICS grouping - which initially began as a coalition of emerging market economies including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - expanded to include 11 nations in 2023. India’s membership of BRICS has been a concern for Washington. In March, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated that India’s membership of BRICS was an irritant in the bilateral relationship.
