‘Dollar is king’: Donald Trump says BRICS including India will face 10% tariff

1. ‘Dollar is king’: Donald Trump says BRICS including India will face 10% tariff

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said countries in BRICS, including India, would face a 10 per cent tariff, alleging the bloc was set up to hurt the United States and to “degenerate” the dollar, which he called “king.”

President Donald Trump, left, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP)

“They (India) have to pay 10 per cent if they are in BRICS, because BRICS was set up to hurt us, to degenerate our dollar, to take it off as a standard. That is okay if they want to play their game, I can play their game too. So anybody that is in BRICS is getting a 10 per cent charge. If they (India), they’re gonna have to pay a 10 per cent tariff,” Trump told reporters.

He added that countries seeking to challenge the dollar “are gonna have to pay a big price,” and said, “I don't think any of them is willing to pay that price.”

Trump said he believed BRICS had “largely broke up,” adding, “I thought BRICS was, and I said it a year ago, that it largely broke up, but there are a couple of them hanging around.”

He also said, “BRICS is not, in my opinion, a serious threat, but what they try to do is to destroy the dollar so that another country can take over and be the standard, and we are not gonna lose the standard.”

Taking a swipe at US President Joe Biden, Trump said the country needs a smart leader to protect the dollar’s global standing, warning that under “a stupid president like the last one,” the United States could lose its position as the issuer of the world’s standard currency,  a loss he compared to “losing a war, a major world war.”

“If you have a smart president, you will never lose the standard. If you have a stupid president like the last one, you would lose the standard. You wouldn't have the dollars here. And if we lost the world standard dollar, that would be like losing a war, a major world war. We would not be the same country any longer. The dollar is king. We are gonna keep it that way,” Trump added.