Trump threatens BRICS nations with 100 percent tariff

President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday demanded a group of developing countries commitment to the use of the U.S. dollar as their reserve currency and threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff if they attempt to abandon it.

“The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, referring to the acronym for the original group of countries in the bloc — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The geopolitical alliance has since expanded to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.

“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.”

Officials from the BRICS countries have discussed moving away from the U.S. dollar in recent years including at the 2024 BRICS Summit last month. The concept gained steam in 2022 when the U.S. imposed massive economic sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.

Trump also said in his post that the countries “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.”

The statement comes as the president-elect steps up his tariff threats, after he announced plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada and a 10 percent additional tariff on China over illegal migration and drug trafficking into the United States.

A spokesperson for the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request from POLITICO to clarify the total percentage of tariffs planned for China or other BRICS countries.