U.S. President Donald Trump recently claimed that the BRICS bloc has "broken up" after he threatened to impose a 150% tariff on member countries trying to destabilize the U.S. dollar. BRICS, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, had been considering the establishment of a new currency to rival the dollar's supremacy.
In a statement, President Trump reminisced, "BRICS countries were attempting to ruin our dollar. They wanted to make a new currency. So when I got in, the first thing I said was any BRICS country that even mentions the ruination of the dollar will be charged a 150% tariff, and we don't want your products and the BRICS countries just disbanded." He went on to comment on the lack of recent activity from the group, saying, "I don't know what the hell happened to them. We haven't heard from the BRICS countries lately."
Previously, on February 13, President Trump had warned BRICS countries of 100% tariffs in case they sought alternatives to the American dollar. He reiterated that America would stop trading with any BRICS nation trying to substitute the dollar with another currency. This was in line with his January threat of levying tariffs if BRICS came up with an alternative currency.
The BRICS countries had earlier talked about de-dollarization measures. Of particular interest is that, in the 15th BRICS Summit in 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin promoted more transactions in local currencies and increased interbank coordination among member states.
Although President Trump asserts that his tariff threats resulted in the break-up of BRICS, there has not been any confirmation from the member states on the alliance's status at present.
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