Trump threatens Brics countries with 100 per cent tariff if they try to ...

US president-elect Donald Trump issued a warning to Brics nations on Saturday, in the form of a threat to impose 100 per cent tariffs on any country that challenges the US dollar's dominance in the global economy.

In a statement posted on his Truth Social account, Trump called on Brics nations - an alliance initially comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and recently expanded to include several other economies - to abandon any plans to create a new currency or support alternatives to the US dollar.

"The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is over," Trump wrote, stressing the potential economic fallout for nations pursuing such strategies.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

The president-elect specifically threatened to impose "100 per cent tariffs" on countries exploring alternative currency arrangements, warning they could face restricted access to the US market.

Trump's remarks come as Brics members continue discussing ways to reduce their reliance on the US dollar through potential currency alternatives or new trading mechanisms.

The issue was raised at the bloc's summit in Kazan, Russia, in October. This year's host Vladimir Putin said the US currency "is being used as a weapon", adding that it was necessary to look for alternatives that would protect the economies of countries not aligned with Washington's restrictions.

"We are looking into the possibility of expanding the use of national currencies and settlements and want to establish the tools that would make this safe and secure enough," Putin said.

But efforts to push the idea among the bloc's members remain vague, and some analysts have questioned the feasibility of Brics nations creating a unified currency or developing systems to bypass the US-dollar-dominated financial order.

Marina Moreno, a scholar at the Rio de Janeiro-based think tank Observa China , said that there is still a long way before the idea could become a reality, as it is difficult to harmonise monetary policy within a group of developing countries with such diverse economic systems.

She said that even in the European Union, the creation of a common currency had taken 34 years despite a greater degree of economic and geographic cohesion between the countries relative to Brics members.