Former President Donald Trump - the Republican candidate in the 2024 US presidential election - stated that foreign countries pursuing a policy of de-dollarization will pay a heavy price and face unprecedented import tariffs for pursuing non-dollar trade.
Speaking to supporters at a campaign rally in Wisconsin last weekend, the former US President pledged to maintain the US dollar's status as the world's reserve currency, stressing that the greenback was "under severe siege" as more countries turned to other ways to conduct trade.
"You abandon the dollar, you will not do business with the United States, because we will apply a 100% tax on your goods," Mr. Trump said.
According to RT, the trend of using national currencies instead of the USD is increasing following major economic sanctions imposed by the US and its allies on Russia after the Ukrainian conflict escalated in February 2022.
After being cut off from the Western financial system SWIFT, Moscow turned to alternative options for payments, and some of Russia's foreign partners followed suit.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia was not pursuing a policy of de-dollarization , but was forced to look for other options after a series of unprecedented sanctions, including cutting off the Russian Central Bank from dollar transactions, banning cash transfers of dollars into Russia and freezing the country's foreign exchange reserves.
According to President Putin, Russia and its BRICS partners are using national currencies in 65% of bilateral trade transactions.
Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have also planned to discuss switching to local currencies instead of the US dollar, euro, yen and pound sterling. ASEAN's combined GDP is said to be as high as US$4 trillion.
Last week, Donald Trump pledged to significantly reduce Washington's use of sanctions if he is re-elected in November. Speaking at the Economic Club of New York, Trump acknowledged that the restrictions the US imposes on other countries are hurting the dollar .
