No decision has been taken to start a currency to compete with the US dollar, said S Jaishankar
Doha/New Delhi:
No decision has been taken to start a new currency to compete with the US dollar, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said in Qatar, where he has gone to attend the Doha Forum.
Mr Jaishankar’s comments came a week after US President-elect Donald Trump demanded that BRICS member countries, which include major emerging economies such as India, Russia and China, commit to not creating a new currency or supporting another currency that would replace the dollar.
Trump had threatened to apply 100 per cent tariffs if BRICS members start a de-dollarization policy, or move away from the US dollar.
“We had a good relationship, a very solid relationship with the first Trump administration, yes there were some issues mostly trade related issues, but there were a whole lot of issues on which Trump was very international, and I remind people that it was actually under Trump that the QUAD was restarted,” Mr Jaishankar said.
He also noted the personal connection between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President-elect Trump, which has contributed to the strong bilateral ties between the two countries.
“There is a personal relation between PM Modi and Trump… Where the BRICS remarks were concerned, we have said that India has never been for de-dollarisation, right now there is no proposal to have a BRICS currency. The BRICS do discuss financial transactions… The US is our largest trade partner, we have no interest in weakening the dollar at all,” he added.
While warning BRICS members to not commit to creating a new currency or supporting another currency that would replace the US dollar, Mr Trump had said they can go find another ‘sucker’.
“We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US Dollar or, they will face 100 per cent tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“They can go find another ‘sucker’. There is no chance that the BRICS will replace the US dollar in international trade, and any country that tries should wave goodbye to America,” the US President-elect had said.
