Whether he threatens more tariffs for de-dollarisation or uses divide-and-rule to weaken the world, especially developing countries, they must make it clear that, apart from Trump’s way and the highway, there is a third way for those willing and able to pay the price. That would sometimes mean not loving Trump less, but loving themselves more.
It’s hard not to love US President Donald Trump. He is the world’s most powerful president and wears his preeminence on his sleeve. Not for him the crooked modesty of the Chinese or the boring self-effacement of the British.
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Six months after his second inauguration, it’s been one day, one Trump. Two of his latest alter egos have been his invitation to the White House to five African heads of state, and his threat to impose an additional 10 per cent tariff on any country that gets too close to the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – middle-level powers trying to find a common ground and chart a trading system outside the dollar.
That Beautiful Word
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First, the BRICS story. In response to BRICS leaders at the 17thBRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, calling for closer monetary cooperation, Trump warned that the US will not tolerate a unified currency or trading system that offers an alternative to the dollar. The man who once described “tariffs” as the most beautiful word in the dictionary threatened to wield it again.
What is Trump afraid of? As of 2025, BRICS countries collectively contribute about 40 per cent of the world’s economic output, measured by purchasing power parity. In the past two decades, their share of global GDP has grown from 21 per cent in 2000, to nearly 35 per cent by 2024 for the five original members. The BRICS digital payments market is projected to reach around $2.45 trillion by the end of this year.
Trump can read the writing on the wall, and in his America First world, whatever threatens the dominance of the dollar threatens his slogan. Even though blockchain and central bank digital currencies and cross-currency settlements are evolving, they can hardly compare to the challenge that a unified BRICS currency might pose to the dollar, which currently accounts for nearly 80 per cent of the global trading system, estimated at $33 trillion.
The Dollar As a Weapon
But that’s not all that bothers Trump. A lesser, but equally important reason, the US President warned that “there will be no exceptions” to the 10 per cent tariff, is that apart from weaponising the dollar, the US also gets a sizeable commission by issuing the greenback to the global trading system. It is called “seigniorage.”
A global trading system dominated by the dollar is no longer fit for purpose. Trump doesn’t think so. He believes the US can continue to eat its cake, preferring bullying and unilateralism to dialogue and multilateralism. The BRICS (now BRIC+) has a combined GDP that is two-and-a-half times larger than the EU’s. It would be foolish of BRICS to underestimate its advantage or indulge Trump’s tantrums.
According to a 2022 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the US has earned a cumulative seigniorage revenue of $3.7 trillion since the dollar became the global reserve currency after World War II. “On an annual basis,” said Professor of Finance, Rahul Ravi, of the University of Alberta, Canada, “the US regularly earns tens of billions of dollars through seigniorage, functioning as a quiet, recurring fiscal windfall that reduces the need for taxation or borrowing.” Trump isn’t about to give up this benefit without a fight.
A Different World
So, what? BRICS countries can either continue with the economic imbalances and trade distortions created and maintained by the dollarisation of global trade, or proceed with a viable alternative despite Trump. After 80 years of a global financial system built on the ruins of World War II and the collapse of the gold standard, the world has been at its most prosperous ever.
Thanks to the extraordinary spread of knowledge through research and advances in science and technology, trade has grown 38-fold since 1945, reflecting a profound transformation in the world economy and a shift in the global financial powerhouses that test the viability of the methods and institutions that govern trade.
A global trading system dominated by the dollar is no longer fit for purpose. Trump doesn’t think so. He believes the US can continue to eat its cake, preferring bullying and unilateralism to dialogue and multilateralism. The BRICS (now BRIC+) has a combined GDP that is two-and-a-half times larger than the EU’s. It would be foolish of BRICS to underestimate its advantage or indulge Trump’s tantrums.
Follow China
Regardless of its insidious opportunism, sometimes, China has played a significant role in developing an alternative payment system over the last nearly 10 years, especially with Gulf states, and has much to share with other BRICS members.
The US benefits from the dollar’s global reserve status through cheap borrowing and commissions. Still, other countries bear the cost of the reduced ability to respond to economic shocks. Of course, Trump can argue, as he often does, that countries like China also manipulate their currencies to the detriment of US exporters, but that’s all the more reason the world needs a viable alternative trade payment system.
One thing that all five have in common, perhaps the biggest draw for Trump, is mineral resources. This, quite frankly, is all the US president cares about, with the token inclusion of Liberia for historical reasons. After the stick brutally cutting the continent’s development aid by $4.5 billion, Trump is offering not the continent’s powerhouses, but some of its weakest, the carrot of a White House tour to discuss their minerals.
We’ve had enough of decades of economic imbalances, reduced monetary autonomy, financial instability and geopolitical tensions linked to the dollarised global system. BRICS didn’t come this far to capitulate to a president who sets the world by his clock.
Going to the White House
This brings up another point about the second version of Trump seen lately. South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, who was at the Brazil meeting, and his West African neighbour, Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who attended as leader of “a partner country,” must be relieved not to be on Trump’s list of five African heads of state invited to the White House on 9 July.
In Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, opposition leaders mock Tinubu for being passed over. But I think the joke is on Trump. Of the five countries he invited – Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau – with a combined GDP of about $80 billion and populations of over 33 million, Senegal stands out for many good reasons. Not only does it represent nearly half of the economy of the five countries, but its economy is also the most diversified, with a promising government.
Back Story
One thing that all five have in common, perhaps the biggest draw for Trump, is mineral resources. This, quite frankly, is all the US president cares about, with the token inclusion of Liberia for historical reasons. After the stick brutally cutting the continent’s development aid by $4.5 billion, Trump is offering not the continent’s powerhouses, but some of its weakest, the carrot of a White House tour to discuss their minerals.
Good luck to them, but it’s also an opportunity for a continent always looking elsewhere rather than within itself for redemption. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AcFTA) should mean more than paperwork. It offers a genuinely sustainable path to Africa’s growth and development. Those mocking Tinubu could not have quickly forgotten Ramaphosa’s experience at the White House. Trump is the only star in any Trump movie.
Whether he threatens more tariffs for de-dollarisation or uses divide-and-rule to weaken the world, especially developing countries, they must make it clear that, apart from Trump’s way and the highway, there is a third way for those willing and able to pay the price. That would sometimes mean not loving Trump less, but loving themselves more.
Azu Ishiekwene is editor-in-chief of LEADERSHIP and author of the book, Writing for Media and Monetising It.
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