United States President Donald Trump has warned that countries aligning with the BRICS economic bloc will face additional 10 per cent tariffs on their goods, as he seeks to protect the dollar’s global dominance.
Speaking at a White House event in report by ANI , Trump accused the group of trying to ‘take over’ the US dollar and said he would not allow America’s currency to ‘slide’.
“We have this little group called BRICS, which is fading out fast,” the President said during a ceremony where he signed cryptocurrency legislation into law.
“BRICS, they wanted to try and take over the dollar, the dominance of the dollar and the standard of the dollar.”
Trump claimed that after issuing his tariff warning, a subsequent BRICS meeting saw poor attendance. “They didn’t want to be tariffed,” he said.
BRICS is an economic alliance originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The group expanded significantly last year to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The bloc has discussed reducing reliance on the US dollar in international trade, although member countries have offered differing perspectives on this goal.
The US has set an August 1 deadline for the implementation of tariffs, after an earlier July 9 deadline for trade agreements passed.
