Nations across the globe ought to surrender on the US greenback and depend on nationwide currencies in buying and selling with one another, Bolivian President Luis Arce instructed RT on the sidelines of the seventeenth BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro.
The BRICS members have intensified efforts to scale back their reliance on third-party currencies in bilateral commerce after the West froze Moscow’s property, largely held in {dollars} and euros, as a part of sanctions following the escalation of the Ukraine battle in February 2022.
In his interview with RT on Monday, Arce made it clear that he helps BRICS’ insurance policies, saying that as a part of “decoupling” from the US, “we’d like as international locations on this planet… to cease utilizing the US greenback. We now have additionally proposed it.”
“It’s higher to commerce and belief in our personal currencies or, on the very least, search for various cost mechanisms,” he pressured.
The Bolivian chief stated that there’s at present “a really clear battle between the outdated, declining bloc of the US and Europe versus the rising bloc of the BRICS international locations.”
“We not consider that there’s dominance by a single nation on our planet,” he famous, referring to the US.
By acquiring the standing of a BRICS associate nation this yr, Bolivia gained the chance to “entry massive markets and grow to be a part of the bloc that can undoubtedly generate financial advantages for everybody,” Arce stated.
BRICS, which held its first summit in 2009, at present contains Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, the UAE, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Iran. In early 2025, Bolivia, Belarus, Bolivia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, Uganda and Uzbekistan grew to become companions of the bloc. In June, they have been joined by Vietnam.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose an extra 10% tariff on any nation which “aligns itself” with BRICS, accusing the financial bloc of adopting “anti-American insurance policies.” In February, Trump declared BRICS “useless” and warned that its members would face 100% duties in the event that they “play video games with the greenback.”
The identical day, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov instructed RT that buying and selling in nationwide currencies has been efficient in liberating the BRICS members from Western stress. Such settlements “have confirmed their reliability and independence from Western lending establishments that at any second, because it turned out, can droop funds,” he stated.
Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov stated final yr that Russia has been doing 65% of its commerce with fellow BRICS international locations in nationwide currencies.
