President-elect Donald Trump announced over the weekend that BRICS countries will face 100-percent tariffs unless they make a commitment to not create a BRICS currency that would compete with the U.S. dollar. He said that any country attempting to replace the U.S. dollar in international trade will not be able to sell to U.S. consumers, stating in a post on X:
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.
Brazil, Russia, India, and China founded the intergovernmental organization at the first BRIC summit in June 2009, and South Africa joined in 2010. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates joined the group at the 15th BRICS summit, in 2023.
Many countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS due to the rapid devaluation of the U.S. dollar. In June 2024, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned that America should see countries moving away from the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency as a wake-up call, stating:
59 more countries want to join BRICS. We should see this not as a threat, but as a wake-up call. Why do so many countries want to exit the American sphere of influence? Because we have squandered our moral authority through militarism, colonial-style exploitation, and economic warfare.
I will turn this around by turning our resources toward rebuilding the homeland and making America once again the envy of the world for its freedom, clean government, and prosperity. #KennedyShanahan24
