Find 'another sucker': Trump warns BRICS nations against replacing US dollar

BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation of ten countries --Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Currently, the group does not have a common currency, but discussions on the subject gained some momentum after the West imposed sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Washington: President Donald Trump has once again warned that he will impose 100 per cent tariffs against BRICS nations if they attempt to replace the US dollar in international trade, telling them to go and find "another sucker nation."

“The idea that the BRICS countries are trying to move away from the dollar, while we stand by and watch, is OVER,” Trump said on Thursday in a post on Truth Social, a social media platform owned by him.

Trump said he wanted a commitment from these "seemingly hostile" countries that they would neither create a new BRICS currency nor back any other currency to replace the "mighty" US dollar.

"Or they will face 100 per cent tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy,” Trump said.

“They can go find another sucker nation. There is no chance that BRICS will replace the US dollar in international trade, or anywhere else, and any country that tries should say hello to tariffs, and goodbye to America!” Trump threatened.

Although Trump has repeatedly criticised BRICS nations against any move to float their own currency, this is his strongest opposition to it so far.

In December too, Trump warned BRICS nations against such a move.

BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation of ten countries --Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

BRICS, formed in 2009, is the only major international group of which the US is not a part. Over the past few years, a few of its member countries, in particular Russia and China, are seeking to have an alternative to the US dollar or create BRICS currency.

India, an important pillar of BRICS, has said it was against de-dollarisation.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in December said India had never been for de-dollarisation and there was no proposal to have a BRICS currency.