Friday, March 21, 2025
President Trump often has trouble with the facts, such as when he recently asserted that Ukraine started the war with Russia. But he had a huge problem in recent references he has made to the BRICS group, of which Iran is a member. Meeting with Republican governors February 20, Trump said, “How about the BRICS; you know, the BRICS states there are like six of them.”
Actually, there were four when they organized, and now there are 10, including Iran. BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. More recently, Iran, the UAE, Egypt and Ethiopia have been added. Then Trump said, “And they were trying to destroy our dollar.” He said this after both Russia and Brazil had replied to a previous speech in which he made the same charge.
They denied that they wanted to create a new currency replacing the dollar, as he had said then. Trump continued, again saying the BRICS countries wanted to create their own currency. He said that might be the “won,” which he identified as China’s currency. Actually, it is South Korea that uses the won, pronounced “wan.” Trump then said, “So, when I came in, the first thing I said is, any BRICS state that even mentions the destruction of the dollar will be charged a 150 percent tariff. And we don’t want your goods, we don’t want to partake.”
Actually, one week earlier he had threatened a 100 percent tariff. And the only country in BRICS saying it wants to destroy the dollar is Iran, from which the US will only buy a few things, like pistachios. But there is already a tariff of more than 200 percent on Iranian pistachios. That tariff has been in place four decades. Next Trump said, “And the BRICS states just broke up. I don’t know what the hell happened to them. We haven’t heard from them lately.” No, the BRICS have not broken up.
Previously, when discussing BRICS, he suggested the “S” in BRICS stood for Spain. It stands for South Africa. And he mentioned China, saying, “I don’t even know that they’re a member of BRICS.” They are. The “C” in BRICS refers to China
