WASHINGTON - President-elect Donald Trump on Nov 30 threatened to impose a 100 per cent tariff on the Brics group of nations if they undercut the US dollar.

“We require a commitment... 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 percent Tariffs,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website, referring to the grouping that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and others.

The statement comes after a Brics summit held in October in Kazan, Russia, where the countries discussed boosting non-dollar transactions and strengthening local currencies.

The Brics group has expanded significantly since its inception in 2009, and now includes countries such as Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Altogether, the Brics coalition accounts for a significant minority of the world’s economic output.

At the Kazan summit in October, Moscow secured a joint declaration encouraging the “strengthening of correspondent banking networks within Brics and enabling settlements in local currencies in line with Brics Cross-Border Payments Initiative.”

But at the end of the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated that little progress had been made on launching a possible competitor to the Belgium-based Swift financial messaging system.

“As for Swift and any alternatives, we have not created and are not creating any alternatives,” Mr Putin told reporters at the end of the summit.

He added: “As for a unified Brics currency, we are not considering that question at the moment.”

Trump has vowed to pursue a protectionist agenda,