BRICS countries have no interest in weakening the US Dollar (USD) at all, India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said at an event in Qatar’s capital Doha on Saturday.
His remarks came a week after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump had demanded that BRICS member countries, which include major emerging economies like India, Russia and China, commit to not creating a new currency or supporting another currency that would replace the dollar or face 100% tariffs.
Earlier this month, US President-elect Donald Trump threatened 100% tariffs against BRICS countries if they develop a common currency to undermine the US dollar.
His threat was directed at countries in the BRIC alliance, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Trump, in a Truth Social post, said: “We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other currency to replace the US Dollar or, they will face 100% tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the US economy.”
The US dollar is the most-used currency in global business, members of the BRICS alliance and other developing nations saying they are fed up with the US dominance of the global financial system.
The dollar represents roughly 58% of the world’s foreign exchange reserves, according to the IMF and major commodities like oil are still primarily bought and sold using dollars.