Trump Threatens Putin’s Russia And Xi’s China With ‘100% Tariffs’

President-elect Donald Trump threatened to slap 100 percent tariffs on a group of developing countries that includes Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Xi Jinping’s China unless they commit to the U.S. dollar as their reserve currency.

“The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER,” he wrote Saturday on Truth Social, referring to the bloc that also includes Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.

“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% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy.”

The BRICS have, since last year, toyed with the concept of “de-dollarization,” which would see them lean on alternatives to the U.S. dollar for global trade, including conducting more trade in their local currencies.

Putin, in particular, has advocated for the idea in the wake of massive sanctions placed on Russia for ordering a full-scale invasion of Ukraine—a violation of international law, according to experts and the head of the UN.

The BRICS control 42 percent of global central bank foreign exchange reserves, according to ING.

Economists have expressed skepticism that they could successfully create their own currency to rival major reserve currencies like the dollar, the euro and the British pound. “There is no change that the BRICS will replace the U.S. Dollar in International Trade, and any Country that tries should wave goodbye to America,” added Trump, in his Truth Social post.

There are at least some immediate ways where the BRICS can lower their dollar dependency.

Gold, their biggest alternative to the U.S. dollar, makes up just one tenth of their reserves, which is half the global average, ING’s analysts noted.

Trump threatened the BRICS a day after he met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who flew to Florida and dined with him at Mar-a-Lago in an effort to head off a planned 25 percent tariff on all goods from Mexico and Canada. Trump says he will impose over illegal migration and drug trafficking entering the United States.

Earlier in the week, he spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum about the proposal as well, although neither she nor Trudeau secured a commitment.