"Trump Says BRICS Fell Apart After 150% Tariff Warning"

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that the Brics coalition, which includes India, "broke up" after he threatened to impose a 150% tariff in response to efforts by its members to undermine the U.S. dollar.

Trump has consistently warned Brics nations about the risks of replacing the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency, signaling harsh trade penalties for any country pursuing this alternative.

“I don’t know what happened to them,” Trump said, adding, “We haven’t heard from the Brics states lately.” He explained, “The Brics states were trying to destroy our dollar and create a new currency. So when I came in, I made it clear: any Brics nation even considering undermining the dollar would face a 150% tariff, and we didn’t want their goods. And just like that, the Brics states broke up.”

The Brics group is an intergovernmental coalition comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the UAE.

Trump reiterated that since he issued the tariff warning, he has not heard from the Brics nations. "We haven’t heard from the Brics states lately," he remarked.

Trump’s Ongoing Warnings to Brics Nations

On February 13, Trump once again warned Brics countries that they could face 100% tariffs if they “play games with the dollar.” He declared that Brics was effectively "dead" and reiterated that the U.S. would stop trading with member nations if they attempted to replace the dollar with a new currency.

On his Truth Social platform, Trump posted, “The idea that the Brics countries are trying to move away from the dollar, while we stand by and watch, is OVER.” He strongly opposed the creation of a Brics currency, saying, “We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile 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.”

Trump’s Warning on the Brics Currency Move

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

This warning comes on the heels of similar remarks made earlier this month, where Trump cautioned Brics nations against contributing to the "de-dollarization" of the global economy. "They (Brics) tried to do a number on the United States, and if they do that, they’re not going to be happy about what’s going to happen to them," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

This stance mirrors a previous statement from December, where Trump threatened punitive tariffs if Brics proceeded with efforts to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar.

Brics' Push for De-Dollarization

Brics nations have been actively pursuing the reduction of their dependence on the U.S. dollar in global trade and finance. During the 15th BRICS Summit in 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin underscored the importance of de-dollarization, saying, “Brics countries must expand settlements in national currencies and enhance cooperation between banks.”

In June 2024, at a meeting in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, Brics foreign ministers reiterated their commitment to diminishing dollar reliance. They expressed strong support for the "enhanced use of local currencies in bilateral and multilateral trade and financial transactions between the member countries."