News Brief
'India Has No Interest In Weakening The US Dollar': Jaishankar On Trump's 100 Per Cent Tariff Threats To BRICS Nations
EAM S Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday (7 December) clarified that no decision has been taken to introduce a new currency to challenge the US dollar.
He made these remarks in Qatar, where he has gone to attend the Doha Forum.
Jaishankar’s statement came a week after US President-elect Donald Trump demanded that BRICS nations, including India, Russia, and China, refrain from creating a new currency or endorsing any alternative to the US dollar.
President-elect Trump warned of imposing 100 per cent tariffs if BRICS nations pursued a de-dollarisation strategy or distanced themselves from the US dollar.
"We had a good relationship, a very solid relationship with the first Trump administration, yes there were some issues mostly trade related issues, but there were a whole lot of issues on which Trump was very international, and I remind people that it was actually under Trump that the QUAD was restarted," Jaishankar said.
"There is a personal relation between PM Modi and Trump... Where the BRICS remarks were concerned, we have said that India has never been for de-dollarisation, right now there is no proposal to have a BRICS currency. The BRICS do discuss financial transactions... The US is our largest trade partner, we have no interest in weakening the dollar at all," he added.
Trump issued a stern warning to BRICS nations against creating or supporting an alternative to the US dollar, stating they could “go find another ‘sucker.’”
"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 per cent 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'. There is no chance that the BRICS will replace the US dollar in international trade, and any country that tries should wave goodbye to America," the US President-elect had said.
