BRICS countries can go hang, says Trump

You've got to give Donald Trump his due. Sometimes he just says it how it is and never mind the consequences. Often it's the wrong thing to say, certainly the most undiplomatic thing to say. But he gets his message out loud and clear. In one of his Truth Social media pronoucements he has issued a direct threat to the so-called BRICS countries which was initially formed by Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa as a stand-alone alternative to any US-dominated trade and currency groupings. The axis of China and Russia has always got to be bad news for the West, especially the US. Then other countries were persuaded to join BRICS: Iran (of course), Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. Basically, the BRICS plot is to get the world to break away from the dominance of the US dollar and to switch to a new currency. Trump's message is, if anyone in the BRICS family pursues such a policy, they can go hang. He would impose 100 per cent tariffs on everything being imported into the US from their countries. In other words, trading with the US will be finished for good. Have a bit of that, BRICS. It may sound like another splurge of Trump rhetoric but deep down he probabvly means it. His view is, how dare these whippersnapper nations dare to undermine the US dollar. They should take the threat seriously, although I guess China, Russia and probably India, will pursue their currency plot whatever Trump says. But I suspect, despite the BRICS vision of a world less dominated by the dollar, it's going to be a long time, if ever, before this happens. And certainly not while Trump is in the White House.