President-elect Donald Trump warned on Monday to impose a 100% tariff on the BRICS nations if they weakened the US dollar.
“We require a commitment… that they will neither create a new BRICS currency nor support any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar, nor will they face 100 percent tariffs,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website. He referred to the grouping that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and others.
The announcement comes after a BRICS conference held last month in Kazan, Russia, where member countries discussed improving non-dollar trade and boosting local currencies.
The BRICS organisation has expanded dramatically since its founding in 2009 and currently includes Iran, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. Collectively, the coalition accounts for a sizable fraction of global economic production.
At the Kazan summit in October 2024, Russia secured a joint declaration encouraging the “strengthening of correspondent banking networks within BRICS and enabling settlements in local currencies in line with the BRICS Cross-Border Payments Initiative.”
The announcement comes after a BRICS conference held last month in Kazan, Russia, where member countries discussed improving non-dollar trade and boosting local currencies.
The BRICS organisation has expanded dramatically since its founding in 2009 and currently includes Iran, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.
Collectively, the coalition accounts for a sizable fraction of global economic production.
“As for SWIFT and any alternatives, we have not created and are not creating any alternatives,” Putin told reporters after the summit.
He added, “As for a unified BRICS currency, we are not considering that question at the moment.”
Trump has promised to pursue a protectionist agenda, proposing significant tariffs on both neighbours and competitors.
If the BRICS countries follow ahead with their intentions, Trump said, they “should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy.”
“They can go find another’sucker!’ There is no chance that the BRICS will replace the US dollar in international trade, and any country that tries should wave goodbye to America,” he wrote.
It was gathered that the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eche Abu-Obe, confirmed that Nigeria had joined BRICS as a partner nation.
“Yes, it is true that Nigeria has joined BRICS as a partner,” he said.
Nigeria’s membership as a partner country is consistent with prior statements made in November 2023 by Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar, who stated that the country intends to join BRICS as a full member within the following two years, leveraging its enormous economy and population.
