No different authorized tender can problem the dollar’s reserve foreign money standing, Scott Bessent has claimed
The BRICS nations will be unable to discover a substitute for the US greenback even when they fight, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has claimed.
The remark comes as members of the financial group, together with Russia, China, and India have more and more shifted to nationwide currencies in mutual settlements.
The BRICS nations have ramped up efforts to scale back reliance on Western currencies in bilateral commerce lately, particularly after Western sanctions led to the freezing of Russia’s reserves held in {dollars} and euros, following the escalation of the Ukraine battle in 2022.
Talking on Wednesday to Fox Enterprise about US President Donald Trump’s financial and financial targets, Bessent claimed that no different foreign money can substitute the dollar.
“I’ve been within the foreign money markets for 30-35 years and I can inform you, there isn’t any different to the greenback. These [BRICS] different nations can discuss it, they could attempt to remove our reserve foreign money standing however there isn’t any different reserve foreign money on the horizon,” Bessent mentioned.
The BRICS group consists of its founding members – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – together with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. Indonesia turned a full member in January 2025. Moreover, Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Cuba, Uganda, Malaysia, and Uzbekistan are anticipated to achieve official BRICS companion standing this 12 months. Over 30 nations have submitted functions to affix the bloc.
Bessent’s remarks come after Trump warned BRICS member nations in opposition to changing the “mighty US greenback” as a reserve foreign money, repeating the specter of 100% tariffs he made weeks after profitable November’s presidential elections.
“There is no such thing as a probability that BRICS will substitute the US greenback in worldwide commerce or wherever else, and any nation that tries ought to say hi there to tariffs and goodbye to America!” Trump wrote on his Reality Social platform final week.
Addressing the problem, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied BRICS has plans to create a standard foreign money, though he highlighted ongoing discussions about joint funding platforms to spice up financial cooperation amongst member states.
Hypothesis a few potential BRICS single foreign money has circulated lately. In 2023, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva voiced assist for the concept of a ‘buying and selling foreign money’ throughout the financial grouping, drawing parallels to the euro. Nevertheless, leaders of different BRICS nations, together with Russia, India, China, and South Africa, have denied discussing such a transfer.
BRICS leaders have persistently emphasised that they don’t search to undermine the greenback, and that the dollar is barely weakened by its politicization.
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