At a summit last year, BRICS members discussed boosting non-dollar transactions, eliciting a swift rebuke from Trump who threatened them with 100 per cent tariffs if they undercut the US currency.
Speaking to Brazil’s O Globo newspaper ahead of the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said BRICS nations planned to “increase the share of national currencies in transactions” between member states but said talk of transitioning towards a unified BRICS currency was “premature”.
Vieira, whose country has so far been spared the worst of Trump’s trade ire – Brazilian imports to the US are subject to 10 per cent tariffs, a fraction of those imposed on China – also denied any plans to create a new currency.
The BRICS will be joined for discussions on Tuesday by nine other “partner” countries, including several former Soviet states, as well as Cuba, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda and Nigeria.
