After Trump renews tariff threat, Russia, India say no plan for common BRICS currency | World News
Russia on Friday dismissed a renewed threat from US President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on the BRICS group of nations if it were to establish its own currency, stating that no such plan existed.
On Thursday, Trump reiterated his warning to BRICS member countries against replacing the US dollar as a reserve currency, repeating a threat of 100 per cent tariffs that he had first made weeks after winning the November presidential election.
However, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov clarified that BRICS, of which Russia is a member, was not considering the creation of a shared currency but was instead focused on developing joint investment platforms.
“This is not the first time Trump has made such statements, it’s not new. There have been statements like this before, back when he was just president-elect,” Peskov told reporters, as quoted by Reuters.
“The point is that BRICS is not talking about creating a common currency, nor has it ever done so. BRICS is talking about creating new joint investment platforms that would allow joint investments in third countries, mutual investments and so on,” said Peskov.
“In all likelihood, US experts probably need to explain the BRICS agenda in more detail to Mr. Trump,” he added.
The Kremlin had previously stated in December that any US attempt to force countries to use the dollar would backfire after Trump issued the same threat against BRICS.
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India, another BRICS member that has had to rely on various currencies to purchase Russian oil due to Western sanctions on Moscow, also downplayed Trump’s remarks.
“BRICS takes decisions by consensus,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters on Friday, Reuters quoted.
“As far as the dollar is concerned, the question of de-dollarisation, our foreign minister has clearly said that we don’t have such a policy or such a strategy,” Jaiswal said.
The US is India’s largest trading partner, according to Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. New Delhi and Washington are in discussions to arrange an early visit for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US for talks with Trump.
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The BRICS grouping originally comprised Brazil, Russia, India, and China but has since expanded to include additional nations.
While the group does not have a shared currency, long-standing discussions about increasing trade in national currencies have gained traction following Western sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
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