Russia Says Trump's Threat Won't Stop BRICS Payment System Work

The 2024 BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia. (Source: Alexey Danicheva/brics-russia2024.ru/Host Photo Agency)

JAKARTA - The threat of imposing 100 percent import duty on countries that are trying to weaken dollars expressed by US President-elect Donald Trump, has not stopped working on the BRICS economic group payment system, RIA reported, citing a senior Russian official on Friday.

RIA quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin as saying BRICS was actually working on a payment system instead of creating a new international currency.

"Of course, it will continue," he said, referring to the planned system work.

Last week, Trump demanded that BRICS member states commit not to creating new currencies or supporting other currencies that would replace the US dollar, saying otherwise they would face a 100 percent tariff.

"We demand commitments from these countries they will not create a new BRICS Currency, or support other currencies to replace the powerful US Dollars or, they will face 100 percent Tariffs, and must be ready to say goodbye to outstanding sales to the US Economy," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social., as quoted by AP.

This week, President Putin pointed out that the dollar was unlike four years ago when Trump was still in office, because of the steps taken by his competitors from the Democratic Party.

"It has been four years since the President-elect (US) was in the White House. During this time, the economy has undergone many changes, both globally and in America. His successors, his political opponents, have done many things to undermine the fundamental role of the dollar as a global reserve currency," President Putin said at Russia's VTB Investment Forum Calling!, adding the dollar is now being used as a tool of political pressure, quoted from TASS.

However, the dollar's influence has declined globally, Putin said.

"Given that the US share in the global economy is shrinking, the dollar's influence on the global economic process, of course, has also decreased. And along with this, new devices have surfaced," he said, adding that no one could ban the use of new technology and instruments.

In the same forum, President Putin said Russia had never rejected the dollar, but its use was rejected for the country.

"We never turned down the dollar. Did we really reject it? We rejected its use, but that refusal, as our saying goes - they got what they were fighting for. They ended up with the dollar problem itself," Putin said.

Now is the time to think what to do next, the Russian leader said.

"All of this stems from excessive self-confidence, from false pride, including the economic field. This is unacceptable. What needs to be done is to understand the processes that occur globally and build policies based on this understanding, including at the international level," said President Putin.

BRICS is an economic group that is currently consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Apart from that, a number of countries have applied for membership, such as Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Malaysia.