The Russian Federation responded to the threats of US President-elect Donald Trump, in which he threatened the BRICS group if it issued an alternative currency to the US dollar.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on US President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose customs duties on BRICS countries if they create their own currencies, said that any American attempt to force countries to use the dollar will lead to counterproductive results.
Peskov said that the dollar is losing its attractiveness as a reserve currency for many countries, and this trend is gaining momentum.
US President-elect Donald Trump had threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on BRICS countries if they undermined the US dollar.
Trump wrote on his “Truth Social” platform for social networking, speaking about the group that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and other countries: “We ask for a commitment… that it will not create a currency for the BRICS countries, and will not support any other currency to replace the great American dollar, or else it will face… 100 percent customs duties.
This statement comes after the BRICS summit held last month in Kazan, Russia, where member states discussed enhancing transactions in currencies other than the dollar and strengthening local currencies.
The BRICS group has expanded since its establishment in 2009, and now includes countries such as Iran, Egypt and the UAE. The BRICS alliance represents a large minority of global economic output.
At the Kazan summit, Moscow included a joint declaration encouraging “strengthening correspondent banking networks within the BRICS countries and enabling payments in local currencies.”
But at the conclusion of the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated that little progress had been made in launching a potential competitor to the Belgium-based international SWIFT system.
