Trump Demands 'Commitment' From BRICS Nations on Using Dollar
(Bloomberg) -- US President-elect Donald Trump warned the so-called BRICS nations that he would require commitments that they would not move to create a new currency as an alternative to using the US dollar and repeated threats to levy a 100% tariff.
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“The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER,” Trump said in a post to his Truth Social network on Saturday.
“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,” he added.
Trump on his campaign trail pledged that he would make it costly for countries to move away from the US dollar. And he’s threatened to use tariffs to ensure they complied. Saturday’s threat took on new relevance as the president-elect prepares to retake power in January.
Trump and his economic advisers have been discussing ways to punish allies and adversaries alike who seek to engage in bilateral trade in currencies other than the dollar. Those measures include considering options such as export controls, currency manipulation charges and levies on trade, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump has long stressed that he wants the US dollar to remain the world’s reserve currency, saying in a March interview with CNBC that he “would not allow countries to go off the dollar” because it would be “a hit to our country.”
The president-elect’s warning against the BRICS nations suggests “how confused the incoming administration is about the global trade and capital system,” according to Michael Pettis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“The US cannot both reduce its trade deficit and increase the global dominance of USD because these impose diametrically opposed conditions,” Pettis said on his X account.
The BRICS nations discussed the issue of de-dollarization at a summit in 2023. Backlash against the dollar’s dominance gained traction in 2022 when the US led efforts to impose economic sanctions on Russia.
While some potential dollar rivals such as the Chinese yuan have already made inroads, that has often happened at the expense of currencies other than the dollar.
Despite the group’s rhetoric, the infrastructure that backs the dollar, such as the cross-border payment system, will likely give the US currency a decisive edge for decades to come.
