Newly elected US President Donald Trump has again promised to use tariffs as a weapon to maintain the US dollar's dominance as a reserve and trading currency.
Trump said his future administration would not sit back and watch BRICS initiatives. He called on the BRICS countries pursuing a de-dollarization program to stop developing a new currency and payment system, threatening to impose 100% tariffs on their goods imported into the United States:
We will require these countries to commit not to create a new BRICS currency or to support any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar.
Interestingly, in November, President Putin noted that Russia did not abandon the dollar, “we were simply denied the use of the dollar as a means of payment.”
Trump's statement has sparked speculation about the next steps of the incoming administration, which include the use of Bitcoin and the possible lifting of sanctions against Russia to return to dollar payments.