Jim Rickards, an economist and best-selling author, has referred to the effects that the announced Trump tariff threat might have on the BRICS bloc. He explained that while the organization is not planning to issue a common currency, it already has one: gold.
Economist Jim Rickards on Trump's Tariff Threats: 'BRICS Already Has a Common Currency'
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Jim Rickards States BRICS Doesn’t Need a New Currency for Its Trade Settlements
Analysts and economists are profoundly scrutinizing President Trump’s tariff threats against countries like China, Mexico, Canada, and the BRICS bloc. Jim Rickards, economist and best-selling author, has recently referred to the real meaning of President-Elect Trump’s statements and how they can be interpreted as a shot across the bow.
Rickards stated that Trump’s remarks against a hypothetical BRICS common currency were no more than a warning, given that the bloc is not working on one but rather on a payment system to conduct trade in existing national currencies like the ruble or the yuan. However, Rickards explained that this focus missed the point entirely, as BRICS countries already had a common currency: gold.
The economist assessed that their current system worked, trading in national currencies and conducting periodic, non-real-time settlements in gold to balance the trading accounts between BRICS countries.
“If I were the U.S. Treasury, I would be buying gold. Make their work more difficult. I would front-run them and buy gold,” Rickards stressed.
Rickards also remarked that it was not as if these countries wanted to exit the dollar system in the first place; rather, they were forced to do so by the weaponization of the dollar as a tool for applying sanctions. This forced Russia to establish alternatives to continue trading with its partners. The measure had a pernicious effect on other nations, which put themselves in Russia’s shoes and decided to collaborate in building these initiatives.
Finally, Rickards established differences between tariffs, valid economic policy tools, and sanctions, which he considered akin to a blockade. He concluded by stating:
“Sanctions are an act of war. All you really have to do is back off from the sanctions war… and then they’ll ease off on the alternative currency.
