Describing BRICS as a “little group” that is “fading out fast”, US President Donald Trump on Friday renewed his offensive against the bloc of emerging economies and vowed fresh economic penalties for nations seeking to undermine the global dominance of the US dollar.
Speaking at the signing of the GENIUS Act into law, Trump declared that any nation aligning with BRICS would face a 10 per cent tariff, citing what he claimed was an attempt by the bloc to dethrone the US dollar from its reserve currency status.
“There is a little group called BRICS, and it is fading out fast. However, BRICS attempted to challenge the dominance of the Dollar and its standard. I said that anybody in the BRICS consortium of nations, we are going to tariff you 10 per cent, and they had a meeting the following day, and almost nobody showed up,” he said.
Taking a victory lap for what he views as a diplomatic setback for BRICS, Trump maintained that his warning dissuaded further consolidation within the group. “When I heard about this group of six countries in BRICS, I hit them very hard, and if they ever really form in a meaningful way, it will end very quickly.”
While he refrained from naming individual nations, he added, “We can never let anyone play games with the US.” He emphasised that the preservation of the dollar’s global reserve status was non-negotiable. “We are not going to let the Dollar slide… If we lost the status of the Dollar as the world’s reserve currency, it would be like losing a World War.”
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The President's remarks follow his 6 July announcement of a 10 per cent tariff on nations aligning with BRICS, a grouping originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Between 2024 and 2025, the bloc expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, taking the total membership to eleven.
Once hailed as a potential counterweight to Western-led economic frameworks such as the G7 and the IMF, BRICS has called for a multipolar world and reforms in global governance, while encouraging the use of local currencies in trade.
Trump’s renewed trade threats also specifically targeted Brazil. He declared that from August, imports from the country would attract a 50 per cent tariff, citing “unfair” practices.
Asserting his administration’s uncompromising stance, Trump stated, “This (The GENIUS Act) is really strengthening the US Dollar and giving the Dollar a great prominence.”
With BRICS nations exploring alternatives to the dollar in trade settlements and promoting financial cooperation independent of Western institutions, Trump’s comments have been interpreted as an effort to reassert American monetary dominance at a time of shifting global alignments.
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