US President Donald Trump reaffirmed his threat to impose 100% tariffs on BRICS nations on Thursday, as the deadline for imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico approached.
Trump has already warned BRICS nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—with 100 percent tariffs if they formed an alternative to the US currency, and he doubled down on Thursday night.
“The idea that the BRICS countries are trying to move away from the dollar, while we stand by and watch, is OVER,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
“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,” he continued.
Trump’s comments about potential BRICS tariffs come just days before a February 1 deadline he set shortly after taking office, when he threatened to impose 25% tariffs on neighbours Canada and Mexico unless they cracked down on illegal migrants crossing the US border and the supply of deadly fentanyl.
Trump has also threatened China, a member of the BRICS bloc, with an additional 10% tariff on commodities as early as February 1 due to a trade imbalance and its suspected complicity in the US fentanyl supply.