The US President Donald Trump has consistently elevated the threat of losing the dollar’s dominance to a matter of national security. His explicit characterization of BRICS as an “attack on the dollar” and the accompanying claims were made on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, during a bilateral meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei at the White House.

He has publicly stated that losing the dollar’s status “would be like losing a war, a major world war” and that the U.S. “would not be the same country any longer.”

He also categorically called the BRICS alliance an “attack on the dollar” during his meeting with President Milei, claiming that without his intervention, the dollar would already be losing its dominant status.

The key details surrounding this event were made to reporters during a bilateral meeting and lunch. President Trump called the BRICS grouping “an attack on the dollar.” He asserted his strong defense of the U.S. dollar’s global position and reiterated his policy, stating that any country that wants to be in BRICS would face tariffs on all of their products coming into the U.S. economy.

Quote: “I told anybody who wants to be in BRICS, that’s fine, but we’re going to put tariffs on your nation. Everybody dropped out. They’re all dropping out of BRICS.”

The most notable part of his statement was the claim that his threats had been effective, leading countries to “drop out” of BRICS and to stop discussing plans for a potential rival BRICS currency.

The U.S. has been bullish against other nations for decades.

The meeting with President Milei, who is known for his pro-market, “anarcho-capitalist” views and his desire for closer U.S. ties, provided a backdrop for Trump’s strong defense of the dollar and anti-BRICS stance.

It is worth noting that Argentina, under its previous administration, had applied for BRICS membership, but President Milei has since reversed that decision, choosing instead to align more closely with the U.S. and the West.

Despite President Trump’s claim that countries were “dropping out,” news reports indicate that BRICS has actually been expanding. After the initial five members, countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE, and Indonesia have joined as full members in 2024 and 2025.

Russia’s View

The Kremlin explicitly rejected President Trump’s assertion that BRICS was designed to undermine the dollar or target third countries/currencies, describing it as a grouping for cooperation and prosperity.

India’s View

Indian officials have repeatedly sought to clarify their position, stating that India is “realistic,” has no issue with the dollar, and is not seeking to challenge or undermine the dollar’s global role.

The October 2025 remarks served to aggressively reinforce President Trump’s strategy of using U.S. economic power specifically the threat of tariffs as a primary tool to deter any global movement, such as the BRICS de-dollarization efforts, that he perceives as a threat to U.S. financial dominance.

The available information overwhelmingly suggests that President Trump views de-dollarization as a grave threat to U.S. power, equating its success with a major geopolitical defeat.

Using Tariffs as Financial Coercion

The US administration’s primary response to the de-dollarization push is to use massive tariffs as a deterrent. This links the use of the dollar directly to access to the vast U.S. consumer market.

He has warned of 100% tariffs on goods from any country that actively moves away from using the U.S. dollar in international trade or that backs a rival currency.

This policy attempts to make the economic cost of challenging the dollar far greater than the perceived benefit of de-dollarization.

The Underlying Economic Advantage He Acknowledges

President Trump’s concern is rooted in the significant economic and geopolitical privileges that come with dollar dominance.

The dollar’s status as the world’s primary reserve currency creates perpetual demand for U.S. Treasury securities, allowing the U.S. government to finance its debt at extremely low interest rates.

Dollar dominance gives the U.S. the ability to impose powerful financial sanctions by cutting off adversaries (like Russia and Iran) from the global, dollar-based financial system (e.g., SWIFT). It is this “weaponization” of the dollar that is ironically driving BRICS members to seek alternatives.

The politics of the U.S. have an aggressive approach to countries who are not even part of BRICS but have BRICS companies who are sanctioned by SWIFT, Visa, Mastercard, etc.

This aggressive rhetoric and the use of the tariff weapon are direct evidence of a high degree of concern over the BRICS bloc’s efforts. While many experts agree that replacing the dollar’s dominance would be a long and complex process, the current administration views any meaningful progress toward alternative payment systems as an unacceptable challenge to U.S. financial and geopolitical power.

Perhaps the USA should view the so-called BRICS bloc’s efforts at future dominance as their own failure. Stop using the dollar as a weapon. As long as they use it, even more countries will choose BRICS instead of the West, even if they do not choose the BRICS bloc, they will hate America even more out of fear.