What's the Big Deal About BRICS-Pay and Trump Tariffs? Some Background on De-Dollarization and Currency Debasement

Loads of ink and countless electronic bytes of data were spent Monday deciphering the impact of President-Elect Trump's post on his social media platform, TruthSocial.

"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 U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy."

Yahoo! Finance reports the proximate cause for Trump's post is the formation of a payment system known as BRICS Pay, according to Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum.

BRICS Pay is a new attempt by the BRICS group of countries to use digital payment and QR code technology to provide an alternative to dollar-dominated networks — specifically the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), which Russia was barred from upon its invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022.

Since then, war has raged, NATO nations having supplied Ukraine with all manner of weaponry, to little avail. Russia continues to take territory and advance through the country. The US, UK, and EU have applied various sanctions to Russia and other countries, also with little effect. Russia's economy, in fact, is growing at a faster rate than most Western nations, especially European ones, France, Italy, and Germany, which are falling or have already entered into recession.

The BRICS-pay website is indeed registered in Russia, but is likely more for demonstration purposes and trolling of U.S. interests. What concerns Trump, and, more importantly, the Federal Reserve, is that BRICS nations have been bypassing use of the U.S. dollar in international trade and transactions, using local, national currencies for settlement. Also, use of the Chinese yuan has been advanced, as has gold, as a settlement mechanism.

At the last two most recent BRICS summits, in Kazan, Russia this year and South Africa in 2023, there were more than a few discussions about the establishment of a BRICS currency, ostensibly to compete with the dollar and euro in international trade, though nothing concrete has been established. The discussions among finance ministers of BRICS nations and affiliates continue and there have been tests done using blockchain technology, most specifically the recent MBridge tests that were suddenly halted and de-platformed by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), reported by Vince Lanci of GoldFix in late October.

Whatever Trump, in association with the Federal Reserve, plans to do to counter the ultimate establishment of competing reserve currencies in the wider world and especially in the so-called, "Global South", those efforts are likely to be in vain unless the U.S. reverses course on its continuing hectoring of countries which refuse to be bullied by U.S. hegemony and insistence on use of the dollar in trade settlement.

The dollar has lost more than 97% of its purchasing power since inception of the Federal Reserve and is unlikely to change direction. The vaunted U.S. dollar is a dying currency, just as others, the yen, euro, franc, and pound, which are backed by nothing more than faith. Eventually, a shift will be made to better, more stable forms of payment that are not debt-based, likely to be backed by gold, silver and/or other commodities.

Since the U.S. weaponization of the dollar, the world has moved away, an oft-heard phrase by countries trading with the United States is "getting nothing for something." Abandonment of the U.S. dollar as a means of exchange follows along with its being a poor, negligible store of value.

An article on Sputnik teases, Trump's Threat of 100% Tariffs Targeting BRICS Would Blow Up in America's Face.

Americans have reason to be concerned. After the most recent bout of inflation - caused by the Fed's relentless currency creation out of thin air - prices for even everyday items have risen to levels that are unobtainable for average citizens. Losing reserve currency status, which is well underway, would render the dollar completely worthless. Change is necessary.

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