Economy Trump proposes 100% tariff on BRICS nations if they try to create rival currency

[Sweater of AV]

Over the past few years, members of BRICS have proposed creating a common currency to reduce vulnerability against the US dollar. Looks like Donald is trying to get ahead of it with a fresh tariff.

Trump threatens 100% tariff on Bric nations

The president-elect warned the group of nine nations against moving away from the dollar.

www.bbc.com

US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on a bloc of nine nations if they were to create a rival currency to the US dollar.

"The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER," Trump wrote on social media on Saturday.

Major world powers China and Russia are part of the Brics alliance, along with Brazil, India, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. During the US election, Trump campaigned on implementing widespread tariffs. He has escalated threats of steep levies in recent days. This latest message from Trump, who will take office next year on 20 January, was aimed at the Brics, a bloc of mostly emerging economies.

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.

“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 US dollar or they will face 100% tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. "They can go find another sucker," he said.

But some Trump allies have suggested his recent announcements have been negotiation tactics, meant as more of an opening bid than a promise. Asked about the president-elect's proposed use of tariffs, Republican Senator Ted Cruz responded by noting the "importance of leverage". "You look at the threat of tariffs against Mexico and Canada, immediately has produced action," the Texan said on CBS News' Face the Nation on Sunday.

 

[ColemanwastheGOAT]

 

[Sweater of AV]

You're going to be ok, bud. I know it's hard being embarrassed.

 

[Yehudim]

We’ve done literally NOTHING and have won against them, this actually makes me a little bit nervous that Trump can fuck it up somehow.

They’ve had these gay little conferences for the last 15 years that accomplish nothing.

 

[Sinister]

"I'll cause economic disaster in my own Country if you do this, I swear!!"

 

[filthybliss]

We’ve done literally NOTHING and have won against them, this actually makes me a little bit nervous that Trump can fuck it up somehow.

They’ve had these gay little conferences for the last 15 years that accomplish nothing.

China is hard carrying them.

 

[filthybliss]

You're going to be ok, bud. I know it's hard being embarrassed.

I mean Trump has made it obvious from the start that he loved tariffs. His band of useful idiot supporters weren't catfished here, they just didn't know what tariffs are.

 

[Sinister]

I mean Trump has made it obvious from the start that he loved tariffs. His band of useful idiot supporters weren't catfished here, they just didn't know what tariffs are.

They also dont know what "Obamacare" is.

 

[Whippy McGee]

If BRICS were able to pull it off... you'd all wish that Trump had put a 100% tariff on them to stop it, because the alternative is worse.

 

[filthybliss]

If BRICS were able to pull it off... you'd all wish that Trump had put a 100% tariff on them to stop it, because the alternative is worse.

I thought you were a "libertarian". Don't you want cheaper goods? This will just escalate prices and screw over home-bred American businesses that ship goods to those areas because they will be burdened by the tariffs that those countries will respond with.

 

[Jack V Savage]

I thought you were a "libertarian". Don't you want cheaper goods? This will just escalate prices and screw over home-bred American businesses that want to ship goods to those areas because they will be burdened by the tariffs that those countries will respond with.

A law-and-order libertarian who thinks Republican politicians should be above the law, opposes freedom of speech, and thinks and that people shouldn't be able to build on their own land. He's actually one of the least libertarian posters here, though he likes the label for some reason.

 

[filthybliss]

A law-and-order libertarian who thinks Republican politicians should be above the law, opposes freedom of speech, and thinks and that people shouldn't be able to build on their own land. He's actually one of the least libertarian posters here, though he likes the label for some reason.

I put Libertarian in quotes for that very reason. He thinks Universal Healthcare is a communist policy

 

[jimbob27]

How long until the Trumpanzees figure out that "tariffs" are just extra taxes they're going to be paying?

 

[Sweater of AV]

We’ve done literally NOTHING and have won against them, this actually makes me a little bit nervous that Trump can fuck it up somehow.

They’ve had these gay little conferences for the last 15 years that accomplish nothing.

He shouldn't have said anything. All it does is bring attention to something that the majority of the world didn't know about and gives motivation to leaders that don't enjoy being treated like children.

I doubt they create a currency regardless but it was silly to put a spotlight on it.

 

[Yehudim]

He shouldn't have said anything. All it does is bring attention to something that the majority of the world didn't know about and gives motivation to leaders that don't enjoy being treated like children.

I doubt they create a currency regardless but it was silly to put a spotlight on it.

But also gives credibility to things that weren’t true but I guess are true now. That is to say, conspiracy theories about the US dollar and how we’re whacking people because they’re a threat to our currency.

Or how we’re in the Middle East to steal oil. That wasn’t true, but it kind of is now because while we were in Syria because we were fighting ISIS and the Kurds allied with us, officially Trump kept us there for oil (which AFAIK, American companies still have not extracted from there)

Trump is basically the guy that has no idea about American foreign policy and is thrown in charge. It’s like Mr. President what do we do in Syria? Huh? Aren’t we there for oil? Take the oil fields.

 

[Osculater]

Teh BRICS should use Bitcoin instead

 

[Osculater]

If BRICS were able to pull it off... you'd all wish that Trump had put a 100% tariff on them to stop it, because the alternative is worse.

 

[Osculater]

How long until the Trumpanzees figure out that "tariffs" are just extra taxes they're going to be paying?

You learn about tariffs in middle school from what I remember and I went to shitty public schools

 

[LeonardoBjj]

But also gives credibility to things that weren’t true but I guess are true now. That is to say, conspiracy theories about the US dollar and how we’re whacking people because they’re a threat to our currency.

Or how we’re in the Middle East to steal oil. That wasn’t true, but it kind of is now because while we were in Syria because we were fighting ISIS and the Kurds allied with us, officially Trump kept us there for oil (which AFAIK, American companies still have not extracted from there)

Trump is basically the guy that has no idea about American foreign policy and is thrown in charge. It’s like Mr. President what do we do in Syria? Huh? Aren’t we there for oil? Take the oil fields.

- He is pointed as a foreing affairs acident waiting to happen.
Blowsonaro was the same thing. I dont get how anyone after some study in the Foreing Affairs, field would suport this isolacionism economic and political.

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Trump’s tariff plans would be disastrous for America and the world​

You may think his worst ideas won’t get far. Sadly, on trade he has been singularly influential​

Joe biden’s approval rating is languishing and Donald Trump is cruising to the Republican presidential nomination, so it is wise to consider what another Trump term might bring. Though much about Mr Trump’s policy agenda is chaotic, in one area he is crystal clear: he wants to raise tariffs.

A lot. He has proposed slapping a 10% tariff on all imported goods, thereby trebling the country’s average and taking American trade protectionism back to its mid-20th-century heyday.

This is not idle talk. Mr Trump’s lieutenants want to double down on the bad bets they placed in his presidency. Robert Lighthizer, Mr Trump’s chief trade negotiator, has proposed a universal tariff that would be as high as is necessary to eliminate the country’s trade deficit. Peter Navarro, a prickly adviser in Mr Trump’s White House, has called for total reciprocity: if any country has high tariffs on specific American products, Mr Trump should match them.

Economic populists, meanwhile, are trying to sell Americans on the merits of all this. On October 28th the Wall Street Journal published an essay by one arguing “Why Trump is right about tariffs”. In fact, the policy would not only fail to achieve its goals, it would also inflict grievous harm on America and the world economy.

Listen to this story.
Joe biden’s approval rating is languishing and Donald Trump is cruising to the Republican presidential nomination, so it is wise to consider what another Trump term might bring. Though much about Mr Trump’s policy agenda is chaotic, in one area he is crystal clear: he wants to raise tariffs. A lot. He has proposed slapping a 10% tariff on all imported goods, thereby trebling the country’s average and taking American trade protectionism back to its mid-20th-century heyday.

This is not idle talk. Mr Trump’s lieutenants want to double down on the bad bets they placed in his presidency. Robert Lighthizer, Mr Trump’s chief trade negotiator, has proposed a universal tariff that would be as high as is necessary to eliminate the country’s trade deficit. Peter Navarro, a prickly adviser in Mr Trump’s White House, has called for total reciprocity: if any country has high tariffs on specific American products, Mr Trump should match them. Economic populists, meanwhile, are trying to sell Americans on the merits of all this. On October 28th the Wall Street Journal published an essay by one arguing “Why Trump is right about tariffs”. In fact, the policy would not only fail to achieve its goals, it would also inflict grievous harm on America and the world economy.

Mr Trump and his fellow travellers argue that tariffs strike three targets: they lead to a reduction in America’s gaping trade deficit, a source (in their view) of economic weakness; they encourage businesses to manufacture at home; and they counter the manifest injustice of a global economic system in which other countries, especially China, exploit America’s openness.

Each of these propositions is bunk. The argument that tariffs determine the size of the trade deficit is wrong in both theory and practice. The fundamental driver of the trade balance is America’s low national savings rate, which in part reflects its consumer-led economy. Rather than being a sign of fragility, its appetite for imports is proof of its vitality.

America has run a trade deficit every year since 1975, during which time it has been the world’s pre-eminent economic power. And Mr Trump’s own experience shows that tariffs alone do little to change the trade deficit. It widened by nearly 25% during his time in office.

Tariffs do help some manufacturers. Protected industries tend to expand their domestic market share, as steelmakers have since Mr Trump coddled them with tariffs. But at what cost? Sheltered companies can get away with being less efficient than their global rivals.

Other domestic industries suffer: one study estimates that steel users paid an outrageous $650,000 for each steelmaking job created by Mr Trump’s tariffs. And although Mr Trump claims that tariffs are paid for “mostly by China”, the burden actually falls on American consumers, via higher prices. A 10% universal levy would cost each American household an average of $2,000 a year.

Last, tariffs will not fix the global trading system but will make things worse. Other countries would retaliate, as they did during Mr Trump’s first rodeo. That would amount to a global tax on trade, adding to inflation risks. The World Trade Organisation would go to the brink, having been weakened by American administrations over the years, including the present one. And tariffs would tear at America’s ties with its allies, undermining attempts to forge supply chains that do not hinge on China.

Regrettably, Mr Biden does not have much standing to criticise Mr Trump on protectionism. His subsidies for electric vehicles, wind turbines and more besides discriminate against foreign countries and may end up squandering public money. He has left most of Mr Trump’s original tariffs untouched and may reapply levies on European steel as transatlantic talks falter.

That sorry record is all the more reason to fear Mr Trump’s plans. On trade he has been influential, turning America from a force for free trade into an apologist for protectionism. With a 10% tariff, that ugly transformation would be complete. ■

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/11/02/donald-trumps-tariff-plans-would-inflict-grievous-damage-on-america-and-the-world?utm_medium=cpc.adword.pd&utm_source=google&ppccampaignID=19495686130&ppcadID=&utm_campaign=a.22brand_pmax&utm_content=conversion.direct-response.anonymous&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA0rW6BhAcEiwAQH28IkiA3o-MV65-7063b4H3kFzT2jo0ixiAvqsp3nlElQgK4NGqX0h7mxoCpJEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

@Jack V Savage