US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on a bloc of nine BRICS nations if they decide to move away from the dollar and create new currency.
“The idea that the BRICS countries are trying to move away from the dollar while we stand by and watch is over. We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar, or they will face 100 per cent tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. economy,” Trump posted on Truth social media.
Major world powers including China, Russia, Brazil, India, South Africa, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Egypt, makes up the BRIC alliance.
Should this materialize Nigeria would be affected as barely two months ago, the country officially joined BRICS as a partner country, alongside 12 other nations, in a bid to strengthen its economic ties with the intergovernmental bloc.
During the US election, Trump campaigned on implementing widespread tariffs. He has escalated threats of steep levies in recent days.
Leading politicians in Brazil and Russia have suggested creating a Brics currency to reduce the US dollar's dominance in global trade. But internal disagreement has slowed any progress.
A tariff is a domestic tax levied on goods as they enter the country, proportional to the value of the import. So a car imported to the US with a value of $50,000 subject to a 25% tariff, would face a $12,500 charge.
Tariffs are a central part of Trump's economic vision even as he sees them as a way of growing the US economy, protecting jobs and raising tax revenue.
The charge is physically paid by the domestic company that imports the goods, not the foreign company that exports them.
