BRICS, Trump, Tariffs, and Brazil

Brasil logo for July 2025 BRICS conference

The BRICS+ alliance has caused a stir as have Trump Administration tariff threats. Here is something from CNN:

Trump is threatening tariffs on a Beijing-backed group. What’s got him so worried?

July 10, 2025

As US President Donald Trump wages a trade war across the globe, a new target has come into his line of fire: the BRICS group of emerging major economies.

Trump in recent days has threatened members of the China- and Russia-backed club with 10% tariffs on goods imported to the US – in addition to heightened tariffs already looming for some of them.

“Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS” will face those duties with “no exceptions,” Trump wrote on social media Sunday, as leaders from the group met for an annual summit in Rio de Janeiro. …

In his railings against the group, Trump has homed in on one area he sees as a specific threat: currency.

“BRICS was set up to hurt us, BRICS was set up to degenerate our dollar and take our dollar, take it off as the standard,” Trump said during the cabinet meeting on Tuesday. …

BRICS countries are, however, interested in expanding trade in their national currencies, rather than relying on the US dollar – an aim that, if successful, could reduce the dollar dependence of a significant chunk of the global economy. By some estimates, BRICS members account for more than a third of global GDP based on purchasing power parity. Currently, the size of the US economy and the stability of the dollar have made the greenback the lifeblood of global finance – and a significant factor in American global power.

In a joint declaration released during their summit Sunday, the group of BRICS leaders backed ongoing discussions of a “cross-border payments initiative” between member countries. Analysts say that such a system, if developed, could potentially become an alternative to the SWIFT inter-bank network, using BRICS countries’ currencies or their digital equivalents.

Bypassing SWIFT and a dollar-denominated trade system has obvious benefits for certain BRICS countries, such as Russia and Iran, as it could allow them to circumvent heavy Western sanctions. But other countries also see a benefit in not relying on the US dollar for trade. …

Brazil’s Lula on Monday alluded to that when he repeated his view that global trade needs alternatives to the US dollar, but added that this would be something that “happens gradually” and “carefully.” …

Trump’s global tariff war has been a rallying point for BRICS. During their summit in Rio, the leaders released a joint declaration voicing “serious concerns” about the “rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures” – an apparent jibe at the Trump administration’s trade policy.

Members have also found common ground on points counter to the US outside the realm of economics, even as they’ve voiced them carefully. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/10/business/brics-tariff-threat-trump

Natural News posted the following related to BRICS:

BRICS nations forge financial independence as Russia accelerates global de-dollarization movement

The global financial order is undergoing a seismic shift, and the BRICS alliance — comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and now expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE — is leading the charge. With mounting distrust in the U.S. dollar’s dominance and growing resentment toward Western financial weaponization, BRICS nations are aggressively pursuing alternatives that sideline the dollar and shield member economies from Washington’s coercive sanctions. As Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov declared to RT, national currencies offer BRICS nations a lifeline — a system unshackled from Western manipulation and capable of resisting political pressure. The timing is no coincidence: With U.S. sanctions freezing Russia’s foreign reserves and restricting SWIFT access, Moscow has accelerated efforts to dismantle the dollar’s supremacy, reinforcing alliances that threaten the bedrock of Western financial control. …

The rise of a sanctions-proof financial system

Since the West froze $300 billion of Russia’s foreign reserves in 2022, Moscow has pivoted decisively toward self-reliance. Siluanov emphasized to RT that transactions processed through direct bank links — bypassing SWIFT and dollar clearinghouses — ensure “reliability and independence from Western lending institutions.” This defiance isn’t theoretical: Russia’s Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina has spearheaded alternatives like SPFS (Russia’s SWIFT counterpart) while negotiating yuan-ruble trade pipelines with Beijing. “Western infrastructure can suspend payments at any moment,” Siluanov warned — a reality BRICS aims to eliminate.

China, sensing vulnerability after U.S. sanctions on Huawei and semiconductor bans, has mirrored this urgency. Beijing’s gold reserves surged to 2,264 tons in early 2024, while its Treasury sell-off accelerated. As Goldman Sachs noted, the yuan’s share in global payments has doubled since 2019—a deliberate erosion of dollar dominance. …

The question isn’t whether de-dollarization will happen — but how fast. With 30+ nations eyeing BRICS membership, the alliance’s expansion mirrors the fall of the gold standard. https://www.naturalnews.com/2025-07-09-brics-nations-forge-financial-independence.html

Yes, there is a cost to the USA for its sanctions and other trade policies. Back in 2018, we put out a video: US Sanctions and Tariffs leading to New World Order?

Regarding trying to bypass the SWIFT system, as well as the role of gold, the Continuing Church of God put together the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

14:50

SWIFT end to the US dollar?

After World War II, the US dollar became the world’s primary international trading currency. In this video Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie went over some of the reasons for that development. They also discussed US dominance of SWIFT. SWIFT stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. SWIFT provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions. The use of sanctions and the weaponization of SWIFT by the US was brought out as were alternatives to SWIFT development by Russia (System for Transfer of Financial Messages-SPFS) and China (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System-CIPS). Also the BRICS Pay alternative to SWIFT, mentioned at the BRICS Kazan Summit in October 2024 was mentioned as well as “the Unit”, which is a potential, gold-backed currency that Vladimir Putin brought up as another alternative. An article titled ‘The Biggest Story that’s NOT Being Told Will WREAK HAVOC on the US Economy’ was discussed along with the specter of extreme inflation hitting the US once its dollar is no longer relied on internationally. The fact that SWIFT is supposed to be a European system, and one that Europeans want more control of, was mentioned along with the fact that the Europeans could also push harder for the end of SWIFT and/or the US dollar dominance. The timing of the coming Great Tribulation and US banking/financial matters was also mentioned.

Here is a link to our video: SWIFT end to the US dollar?

As far as Donald Trump and tariff threats go, his Administration sent out a letter to Brazil increasing tariffs on their goods to 50%.

Brazil will respond to Trump’s 50% tariff with ‘reciprocity,’ says da Silva

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his country would respond to a newly announced 50% tariff rate on its exports to the United States with reciprocity.

Lula cited a recently adopted Brazilian law that authorizes his government to take proportional countermeasures in response to unilateral economic measures taken by other countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. will impose the massive tariff on imports from Brazil starting Aug. 1. …

Trump also claimed that Brazil’s trade policies have caused “unsustainable Trade Deficits against the United States,” which threaten the U.S. economy and national security.

But the United States has a goods trade surplus with Brazil, which totaled $7.4 billion in 2024, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Da Silva called out Trump’s false allegation of a trade deficit in his response, citing U.S. government figures. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/09/trump-brazil-tariffs-bolsonaro.html

There are costs associated with tariffs, sanctions, and bullying.

Notice something from my latest book available at Amazon Kindle: Unintended Consequences and Donald Trump’s Presidency: Is Donald Trump Fulfilling Biblical, Islamic, Greco-Roman Catholic, Buddhist, and other America-Related Prophecies? as well as Amazon print Unintended Consequences and Donald Trump’s Presidency: Is Donald Trump Fulfilling Biblical, Islamic, Greco-Roman Catholic, Buddhist, and other America-Related Prophecies?:

Donald Trump’s tariff and other economic policies are getting the Gentile nations of Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia to look to trade more with each other. An unintended consequence of his rhetoric and policies is that they are encouraging the end-time rise of the final time of the Gentiles. …

Notice what Donald Trump stated in late 2024:

“The idea that the BRICS countries are trying to move away from the dollar while we stand by and watch is over,” Trump wrote in a Nov. 30 Truth Social post. …

“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 percent tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. economy,” the president-elect recently wrote.

In October, speaking at the Economic Club of Chicago with Bloomberg, Trump warned … “We have to have that. We cannot lose it,” Trump said. “You’ll go to Third World status in this country because you take a look at the way things are running.” (Durden T. De-Dollarization Effort In Spotlight After Trump’s Tariff Threat On BRICS. ZeroHedge, December 3, 2024)

Yes, the impact of the USA dollar losing its reserve status would be horrible–and even worse than Donald Trump asserted. And things like 100% tariffs are inflationary.

The BRICS+ nations, which compose nearly half the population of the world, still want to bypass the US dollar.

US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened 100 percent tariffs on BRICS nations if they replace the dollar in international trade.

However, Brazil has indicated that it aims to boost the effort during its presidency of BRICS. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government has said its objective is the “development of means of payment” to facilitate trade between member countries.[i]

Furthermore, some suspect that more countries in BRICS+ may destroy the ‘petrodollar’ system that supports the dollar.[ii]

The USA dollar will ultimately crash and be worthless. That “pride” of American power will be broken (cf. Leviticus 26:19). …

European leaders have been working for years to establish a new reserve currency for the world, partially with the intent to remove the USA dollar from its current position as a reserve currency.

Those in Russia, Iran and some of the Arab lands, along with nations such as Brazil and India have discussed plans for the removal of the dominance of the USA dollar in global trade as well. Many are now working on that, along with China, in what is called the BRICS alliance.[iii] While Donald Trump did not cause all of this, an unintended consequence of the use of sanctions in the Trump-Pence Administration (as well as by the Biden-Harris Administration) is that more nations are looking to bypass the dollar.

[i] ^{Indonesia joins BRICS group of emerging economies. Aljazeera, January 7, 2025}

[ii] ^{Dourian K. Are the BRICS gearing up to challenge the petrodollar? Middle East Economy, October 10, 2024}

[i]^{BRICS Expansion, the G20, and the Future of World Order. Carnegie Endowment for the International Peace, October 9, 2024}

The BRICS group has long worked to bypass the USA dollar. USA sanctions, tariffs, and other policies have pushed more and more nations away from cooperating with the USA and more towards cooperating with each other.

Although BRICS will not dominate the world economically like the coming European Beast power will, the BRICS nations and their actions will have major impacts on the world.

Related to BRICS and the USA dollar, we put together the following video:

14:31

BRICS Push Aside USA Dollar

The BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have as one of their founding goals, to eliminate the need to use USA dollars in cross-border trade. Six additional nations have been invited to join BRICS in 2024, and India reports that six more are also being looked at. The BRICS nations have already began to drop the USA dollar for some cross-border trading with Russia and China indicating that they had almost done so completely in late 2023. What will happen to the economy and value of the USA dollar if more and more nations stop using it as a primary reserve and trading currency? What about hyperinflation? Does the Bible prophesy destruction for a highly indented nation in the end time? Is the USA the most indebted nation of all time? What about the intent and use of the Euro? Will Europe and Asia cooperate to eliminate the USA and its British-descended allies?