Trump threatens BRICS countries of 100% tariff if they drop dollar as currency
Washington (PTI): President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday warned BRICS countries against any move to replace the US dollar and has sought a commitment from the nine-member group that includes India, Russia, China, and Brazil.
BRICS, formed in 2009, is the only major international group of which the United States is not a part. Its other members are South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. Over the past few years a few of its member countries, in particular Russia and China, are seeking an alternative to the US Dollar or create own BRICS currency. India has so far not been part of the move.
On Saturday, Trump warned BRICS nations against such a move.
“The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER,” the president-elect said in a post on Truth Social, a platform owned by him.
“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,” Trump warned.
“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,” he said. At the 2023 summit in South Africa, BRICS countries committed to study the feasibility of a new common currency. A proposal in this regard was made by the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva.
India, an important pillar of BRICS, has said it is against de-dollarisation.
"…ask you about de-Dollarization as a possibility for the world. At times India has expressed interest in alternative currency. It can serve as a reserve mechanism. I wonder how do you see that right now what you see as the role of the dollar and these discussions about your national policy," India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said during his appearance at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace this fall.
“I think you have us confused for someone else because we have never actively targeted the dollar. That's not part of either our economic policy or our political or our strategic policy. Some others may have,” Jaishankar said.
“What I will tell you is a natural concern there. We often have trade partners who do not have dollars to take. So, we now have to look at whether we forgo dealings with them or do we find some settlement which works otherwise. So, there's no, I can say malicious intent vis-a-vis the dollar in business. WE are trying to do our business,” he said.
“Sometimes you make it difficult in the use of dollars. We have some trade partners with whom trade in dollars becomes difficult because of your policies. We have to obviously look for workarounds. But for us, as we spoke about rebalancing, we spoke about multiple obviously all of this is also going to reflect on currencies and economic needs,” said the External Affairs Minister on October 1 this year.
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Three company directors held in Rs 100-crore investment fraud in Kochi
Kochi (Kerala) (PTI): Police on Sunday arrested three directors of a firm accused of cheating hundreds of investors of over Rs 100 crore through a fake investment scheme linked to agricultural tourism here, officials said.
The accused were identified as Muraleedharan, Ashik Murali and Akhil Murali, all natives of Thrissur.
The arrests were made by the Kalamassery police in connection with a fraud involving ATCOS (Agri Tourism Cooperative Society), a firm headquartered at Pathadipalam here.
Police said the company had promised high returns by collecting investments from the public in the agricultural tourism sector, but allegedly cheated hundreds of people and fled with the money.
ATCOS was registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and operated 13 branches across various districts in Kerala, besides a branch in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, officials said.
When investors failed to receive their promised returns or the invested amount, complaints were filed with the police.
Officials said around 54 cases have been registered against the firm in 32 police stations across the state, including 29 cases at the Kalamassery police station alone.
Following instructions from Kochi City Police Commissioner K S Mahesh Kumar, a special investigation team was formed under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Shehensha and Thrikkakara ACP Manoj Kumar.
The team traced the accused to an apartment in Amala Nagar in Thrissur, where they had been hiding after secretly renting the flat, officials said.
The bank accounts of the accused have been frozen, and steps have been initiated to trace their assets, officials said.
Police also conducted a raid at the company’s office at Pathadipalam and seized several documents related to the case.
The accused were produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kalamassery, which remanded them to judicial custody and sent them to Kakkanad jail.
Police said they would seek the custody of the accused for further interrogation as the investigation continues.
