Donald Trump warns of 100% tariffs on BRICS & India: Here’s what US President said after inauguration

US President Donald Trump on January 20 reiterated to impose 100 per cent import tariffs on the BRICS countries if they took any steps towards cutting the use of the dollar in global trade. The BRICS nations include Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa and India.

“As a BRICS nation... they'll have a 100 per cent tariff if they so much as even think about doing what they thought, and therefore they will give it up immediately,” Trump was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Trump, who took oath as the 47th US President on Monday, made these comments during a press meeting at the Oval Office soon after taking oath as the 47th president of the United States. He was referring to the effort to reduce the use of the dollar in global trade.

BRICS, formed in 2009, is the only major international group of which the United States is not a part.

Trump, however, added that his statement should not be seen as a threat but rather as a clear stance on the issue.

The US President also referenced comments made by former US President Joe Biden, suggesting that Biden had indicated the US was in a vulnerable position on this matter, to which Trump disagreed, asserting that the US has the leverage over the BRICS nations and that they would not be able to proceed with their plans.

“If the BRICS nations want to do that, that's OK, but we're going to put at least a 100 per cent tariff on the business they do with the United States. It's not even a threat. In fact, since I made that statement, Biden said, they have us over a barrel. I said, No, we have them over a barrel. And there's no way they're going to be able to do that,” Trump said.

Earlier in his his inaugural speech, Trump said his administration would establish an “External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues” in order to “tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens”.

Trump had earlier threatened BRICS countries by impositioning 100 percent tariffs on all imports from those countries, should they dare to launch their currency.

BRICS nations were already working on reducing dollar dominance in the global financial system by replacing it with a new global currency. During the plenary session of the 15th BRICS Summit via videoconferencing in 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for de-dollarization, stressing that BRICS countries must expand settlements in national currencies and enhance cooperation between banks.

These efforts became urgent after the US threw Russia out of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), which is key to international financial transactions. Iran was cut off from SWIFT in 2012, a step that was seen as having contributed to bringing Tehran to the negotiating table in 2015.

After the US reimposed oil and financial sanctions on Iran under the first Trump administration in 2018, SWIFT suspended access to banks in that country again.

In June 2024, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the BRICS countries met in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod and called for enhanced use of local currencies in bilateral and multilateral trades and financial transactions between the member countries.

Last month, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das said India has not taken any steps towards de-dollarisation and is only looking to de-risk domestic trade from geo-political upheavals.

(With ANI inputs)