US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs of 100% on all BRICS countries if they try to undercut the US dollar.
"We demand a commitment that they will not create a new BRICS currency, nor support another currency to replace the mighty US dollar, or face 100% tariffs," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
BRICS includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and other countries.
Trump has vowed to pursue a protectionist agenda, threatening neighbors and rivals with high tariffs.
If the BRICS countries go ahead with their plans, Trump warned, they "should expect to say goodbye to exports in the wonderful U.S. economy," he wrote.
"They can find another 'fool'! There is no chance BRICS will replace the US dollar in international trade and any country that tries should wave goodbye to America," the US president-elect added.
Trump's warning comes in the wake of the BRICS summit held last month in Kazan, Russia, which discussed boosting dollar-free transactions and strengthening national currencies.
The BRICS group has expanded significantly since its inception in 2009 and now includes countries such as Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Together, the BRICS account for a significant share of global economic output.
At the Kazan summit in October, Moscow reached a joint declaration encouraging "the strengthening of banking networks within BRICS and the creation of the possibility of payments in local currencies in line with the BRICS cross-border payments initiative".
At the end of the summit, Putin indicated that little progress had been made on the launch of a possible competitor to the Belgium-based SWIFT financial messaging system.
"As for SWIFT and any alternatives, we have not created and are not creating any alternatives. As for a single BRICS currency, we are not looking at this issue at the moment," Putin said. | BGNES
