MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin on Friday brushed off a repeat threat by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on the BRICS grouping of countries if it created its own currency, saying there was and never had been such a plan.
Trump on Thursday warned off BRICS member countries from replacing the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency by repeating a 100%-tariffs threat he had made weeks after winning the November presidential elections.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said BRICS, of which Russia is a member, was not talking about setting up its own currency, but merely about creating 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.
“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, U.S. experts probably need to explain the BRICS agenda in more detail to Mr Trump,” he added.
The Kremlin in December said that any U.S. attempt to compel countries to use the dollar would backfire after Trump made the same threat against BRICS.
The BRIC grouping initially included Brazil, Russia, India and China, but has since expanded to take in other countries.
The grouping does not have a common currency, but long-running discussions on doing more business in national currencies have gained momentum after the West imposed sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
(Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
