Trump Targets BRICS, Warns Against Any Move Towards “De-Dollarisation”

With 50 days to go before he formally takes over the White House, President-elect Donald Trump opted to address, not Ukraine or the situation in Gaza or even anything remotely domestic. He directed his ire at BRICS, the group comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that recently held a summit in Kazan, Russia.

In a post on TruthSocial over the weekend, he threatened the worst if BRICS made any further moves towards “de-dollarisation”.

“The idea that the BRICS countries are trying to move away from the dollar while we stand and watch is over.  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 US Dollar,” ran the post.

Trump was taking aim at a stated goal of the BRICS, to reduce dependence on the US dollar.  It gained traction at the Johannesburg summit last year following US sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions included removing Russia from the SWIFT international payments system, seeking to isolate and economically cripple it.

President Putin accused the US of “weaponising” the dollar, calling it a “big mistake”. As he noted, “It’s not us who refuse to use the dollar. But if they don’t let us work, what can we do. We are forced to search for alternatives.”

He also clarified that BRICS was not creating a unified currency or creating an alternative to the SWIFT payment system. But the bloc has been exploring ways to reduce dependence on the US dollar, discussing the creation of a shared currency to facilitate trade among member states.

India has never been in favour of replacing the dollar, since that would only play into China’s hands and boost the Yuan. But India was among the earliest countries to face US sanctions in the wake of the 1974 nuclear test.  These were tightened over the years to cover even technology. Matters got worse after the 1998 Shakti series of nuclear tests. It took the civil nuclear deal of 2005 to see those sanctions end.

Iraq paid a heavy price for the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. International sanctions tightly regulated even the supply of food and medicines to the civilian population.  Iran signed an internationally negotiated agreement on limiting its nuclear arsenal in 2015, but saw Trump tear it up three years later. It remains under sanctions.

Now let’s look at the other part of Trump’s post, the threat he makes.

“They will face 100% Tariffs and 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.”

The threat is real. India with $75 billion of exports to the US, and an expanding political relationship, has too many stakes in Washington. Likewise many other parts of the world. The Chinese are realising to their cost, that business with America is not always good business.

As diplomats and strategic thinkers have noted, the US will stop at nothing if it felt its national interests or US dominance of the international system, was at stake. Some of the comments on his post are revealing:

Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter urged Trump to “stop secondary sanctions, return confiscated sovereign funds, open SWIFT to everyone.”

Others called for ending the US Deep State, often accused of involving the country in external wars, dismantling NATO and dismantling bases worldwide.

Make the US economy a strong magnet for investment, demanded another, stop the Zero-Sum Mentality urged a fourth. No shortage of views there, if only Trump would listen.