President Donald Trump threatened another 10 nations with tariffs as he prepares to hit Canada and Mexico with increases.
‘Go find another sucker,’ he railed on Truth Social in an attack on the BRICS countries.
He warned the nations against replacing the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency and said if they did, he would slap 100% tariffs on them.
‘The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar, while we stand by and watch, is OVER. 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 U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs,’ he wrote.
It’s part of a long line of threats Trump is making as he uses his authority to assert American power across the world and looks to shore up the U.S. economy.
President Donald Trump is using his authority to try and assert U.S. power in the world
BRICS is a term that was originally coined to describe the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
They’ve since formed an official international organization that also includes South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.
The grouping does not have a common currency, but long-running discussions on the subject have gained some momentum after the West imposed sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
‘There is no chance that BRICS will replace the U.S. Dollar in International Trade, or anywhere else, and any Country that tries should say hello to Tariffs, and goodbye to America!,’ Trump wrote in his long rant.
A Kremlin spokesperson warned that attempts to ‘compel’ countries that use the dollar by imposing ‘economic force’ would backfire.
‘This is not the first time Trump has made such statements, it’s not new. There have been statements like this before, back when he was just president-elect. So now, in fact, he has repeated his old thesis,’ Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
India, another BRICS member and one that has been forced to use a variety of currencies to buy Russian oil due to Western sanctions on Moscow, also played down Trump’s threat.
‘BRICS takes decisions by consensus,’ Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters on Friday.
‘As far as the dollar is concerned, the question of de-dollarisation, our foreign minister has clearly said that we don´t have such a policy or such a strategy.’
A study by the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center last year showed that the U.S. dollar remains the world’s primary reserve currency, and neither the euro nor the so-called BRICS countries have been able to reduce global reliance on the dollar.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government downplayed Trump’s tariff threat
Trump’s latest tariff threat comes as Mexico and Canada wait to see if the president sets a 25% tariff on them this weekend. He has threatened to do so by February 1st.
He wants the two countries to help stem the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, particularly the deadly opioid fentanyl, and also migrants crossing illegally into the U.S.
Trump had also threatened Colombia with a 25% tariff if it did not accept migrants from its country that the U.S. was returning. After initialing saying no, Colombia backed down and took the migrants, causing Trump to withdraw his threat.
This is talk among officials Mexico and Canada could come to a similar agreement of sorts.
Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, said at his confirmation hearing Wednesday that Canada and Mexico could avoid tariffs by closing their borders to fentanyl.
‘As far as I know, they are acting swiftly, and if they execute it, there will be no tariff,’ Lutnick told senators.
Canada and Mexico are the United States’ biggest trading partners.