Donald Trump Promises a War with BRICS

President-elect Donald J. Trump has promised to go to war with BRICS, threatening 100% tariffs and demanding that countries neither “create” their own currency “nor back any other” to replace “the mighty U.S. dollar.” Trump also reiterated, in his social media post, that the countries in violation could “say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. economy.” He ended his statement by reminding the world that any country that tries to replace the U.S. dollar in international trade will be waving “goodbye to America.”

“If we lost the dollar as the world currency, I think that would be equivalent of losing a war,” Donald Trump said in an earlier speech he gave to the Economic Club of New York on September 5, 2024. The president-elect also warned that being dethroned as the world currency would turn America into a “third world country” and swore that he would not “let it happen.” In his speech, Trump stoked the flames by insinuating that China is in league to undermine America, accusing them of “trying to get their currency to be the dominant currency.”

This sort of warmongering does not echo that of an upcoming president who campaigned on America First principles to end America’s involvement in foreign conflicts and to care first for the liberty and welfare of American citizens. On the contrary, this rhetoric that Trump has been spewing is reminiscent of someone who cares more about continuing the American Empire than they do about resurrecting the republic as was promised to the voters. Threatening foreign countries into using or relying on the American dollar should ultimately not be the path forward for a leader who supposedly represents the land of the free.

Going to war with BRICS, and consequently, any bloc of the foreign world that expresses intent on turning away from America’s foreign hegemony, is not only ill-advised but also contradicts Trump’s campaign promise to “end the wars.”

Although Trump’s threats have, so far, been economic and technically non-violent, sanctions and tariffs are likely to heighten tensions and lead to escalation which may boil over into more militant or violent consequences. After all, history shows that trade wars have often acted as precursors for more severe conflicts.

Even without militant escalation, the prospect of sanctions and tariffs against BRICS is going to lead to retaliatory measures. In response to the Biden administration’s recent enforcement of export controls on chip manufacturing, China immediately announced the banning of some rare mineral exports to the U.S. which are vital for military and technological applications. This is only the most recent example, and one that may act as a preview of what will come from an economic or trade war with BRICS, particularly as it relates to China and Russia. Both nations have expressed a desire to move away from the dollar, which they accuse America of having weaponized against them.

President-elect Donald Trump should keep his promise to put Americans first and avoid the path set by former presidents who have upheld the American Empire at the expense of its people. What is good for the American Empire is woeful for Americans, as the last couple of decades has proven, and an America-first president ought to act for the betterment of its citizenry and not bankers and arm dealers, for it is only them who stand to gain from maintaining America’s supposed world dominance.