US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on a bloc of ni

[Inkubus]

I have no idea what it means but suspect it's something else to be frightened of.

“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% tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. Link

Aye, usual stuff.

Be afraid.

[pattylt]

BRIK is Brazil, Russia, India and Korea (North Korea, I assume). It’s about ensuring the US dollar has the continuing world wide status for monetary exchanges. Yeah…nothing could go wrong.

I’m not even sure what base of money these countries are considering. Russias? Ha!

[Thumpalumpacus]

BRIK is Brazil, Russia, India and Korea (North Korea, I assume).  It’s about ensuring the US dollar has the continuing world wide status for monetary exchanges. Yeah…nothing could go wrong.

I’m not even sure what base of money these countries are considering. Russias? Ha!

BRICS is Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa as founding members, and Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates as later additions. If he wants to see some angry Americans, wait until he doubles the price of iPhones, tech support, and morning coffee.

I don't think it'll come to that, myself. I'm not sure BRICS was/is really committed to a new currency, as it will be backed by their own currencies and likely won't have much value outside the group, given the state of the ruble and the Iranian rial, and China's propensity to change the value of their yuan depending on their internal economics or trade balances with non-BRICS.

[Antonio]

He's a buffoon playing to his base .

[pattylt]

BRIK is Brazil, Russia, India and Korea (North Korea, I assume).  It’s about ensuring the US dollar has the continuing world wide status for monetary exchanges. Yeah…nothing could go wrong.

I’m not even sure what base of money these countries are considering. Russias? Ha!

BRICS is Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa as founding members, and  Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates as later additions. If he wants to see some angry Americans, wait until he doubles the price of iPhones, tech support, and morning coffee.

I don't think it'll come to that, myself. I'm not sure BRICS was/is really committed to a new currency, as it will be backed by their own currencies and likely won't have much value outside the group, given the state of the ruble and the Iranian rial, and China's propensity to change the value of their yuan depending on their internal economics or trade balances with non-BRICS.

Thanks for the correction…I was going on memory and I’m old!  So, you think the American dollar will continue to be the standard?  What would international banks do if a new currency was declared?  Just tell them to fuck off?

[Thumpalumpacus]

Thanks for the correction…I was going on memory and I’m old!  So, you think the American dollar will continue to be the standard?  What would international banks do if a new currency was declared?  Just tell them to fuck off?

China's yuan is the only currency that has some heft on the international market, and even that is light given how Beijing plays with its value in order to balance trade; so no, I don't think international banks will pay much attention to it short-term.

Money is only as valuable as the backing. Investors are scared of China because of internal haphazard regulation making factories and product feasible one day and not the next, because of how they manage the yuan.

If BRICS can produce a stable currency (difficult given that the only currency backing it reasonably is itself micromanaged by Beijing), then yeah, maybe twenty or thirty years. In the meantime it depends on how Trump and his cronies handle the dollar, and how follow-on American policy unfolds. I don't think banks will be rushing to China.

[Cavebear]

He's a buffoon playing to his base .

Trump thinks that threatening the World is to his advantage, so he will keep doing that. Part of the problem is that, he and his friends being rich means that increased costs for foreign products doesn't really affect them that much. So he doesn't care. I think he thinks that what doesn't actually harm him personally helps him. If something doesn't harm his finances but causes his base to stay agitated, that is good for him.

When your political power is agitating the public, you agitate them. Trump works on a sort of chaos theory. The more messed-up he can make things, the more people will be dissatisfied, and the more he can manipulate them.

Trump works on the idea that the way to control people is to keep them confused and angry. He won't be the first wanna-be dictator to understand that. Confused angry people are so easily manipulative.

Another part of the problem of Trump is that, while very uneducated i general, is still very intuitively clever. He will never manipulate me personally of course, but he can manage too many who listen to his dog whistles.

[Rhythmcs]

More participation than manipulation, imo. It's not that he's cleverly handling them. More that he's on the koolaid same as the rest, just blurting out the sort of silly things they're all thinking. Patient zero for confused and angry.

[Deesse23]

Brics´ problem is: The only unifying factor is the competition to G7. As if Russia and India ever would accept the Yuan as a new "reference" currency. They have interests too different and in many respects colliding to be a real threat. Yes, they can cause confusion, stir up things, but no, even if they would achieve to take some dominance from G7, as soon as that happened they would start eating up themselves.

[Cavebear]

More participation than manipulation, imo.  It's not that he's cleverly handling them.  More that he's on the koolaid same as the rest, just blurting out the sort of silly things they're all thinking.  Patient zero for confused and angry.

Maybe we should consider the differences among knowledge, intelligence, ability and a talent for manipulation...

Trump (according to even friends) is not really very knowledgable about the world. He makes astonishing mistakes often.

Trump doesn't seem to be particularly intelligent. Knowledge and intelligence are different things. One can be intelligent in thinking, but uninformed. Not that Trump is either.

Trump does have an ability. He intuits what negatively drives people socially and politically. That is not necessarily a good thing for the Nation, but he does have that ability. Hence Inauguration Day 2025.

You don't have to be a "good person" to be successful. Lots of awful people have become very wealthy. But you shouldn't lead a Nation if you are an awful person. There is more to it than just personal success.

[Cavebear]

I want to say something else about Trump. He can't stand being "2nd". So, because Franklin Roosevelt had 4 terms in office, Trump is (in my opinion) going to try to eliminate the 22nd Amendment about term limitations. He would like to live forever (who doesn't?), but at least die in office as dictator after at least 4 terms. If they have to pry his body from the Presidential Chair after death, he would probably imagine that as "success".

Yes, I know that sounds unlikely, but a goal doesn't always reflect reality. I think he will at least try, though.

Passing the Presidency on to family would be his next best try for fame...

[SYZ]

Chinese President Xi Jinping wants a strong yuan,
not a superpower currency. Rather than replacing
the dominant US dollar, Beijing is trying to get the
renminbi [Chinese yuan] more widely accepted in
global payments and central bank reserves.

China accounts for over 15% of the global economy
and is also the world’s largest exporter. But the yuan
still accounts for less than 5% of global payments.
The US dollar accounted for 47.8% of global payments
in July this year.

  —Excerpted from Reuters, 26 September 2024.

[SYZ]

I want to say something else about Trump.  He can't stand being "2nd".  So, because Franklin Roosevelt had 4 terms in office, Trump is (in my opinion) going to try to eliminate the 22nd Amendment about term limitations.  He would like to live forever (who doesn't?), but at least die in office as dictator after at least 4 terms.  If they have to pry his body from the Presidential Chair after death, he would probably imagine that as "success".

Yes, I know that sounds unlikely, but a goal doesn't always reflect reality.  I think he will at least try, though.

Passing the Presidency on to family would be his next best try for fame...

  No way.

When asked if there were legal loopholes or other ways
for a president to get around the 22nd Amendment,
Stanford University law professor Michael McConnell, a
specialist in constitutional law, had a definitive answer...

"No.  There are none. This will be his last run for president".

There are two ways to go about rolling back an amendment.
The first would require two-thirds of both the House—290
members—and the Senate—67 members—to agree to do so.
Once they did so, three-fourths of all states, 38, would then
also have to agree.

These thresholds would be impossible for Trump to
meet, given Democratic opposition, and there would
also be inevitable Republican outcry as well.

[Cavebear]

I want to say something else about Trump.  He can't stand being "2nd".  So, because Franklin Roosevelt had 4 terms in office, Trump is (in my opinion) going to try to eliminate the 22nd Amendment about term limitations.  He would like to live forever (who doesn't?), but at least die in office as dictator after at least 4 terms.  If they have to pry his body from the Presidential Chair after death, he would probably imagine that as "success".

Yes, I know that sounds unlikely, but a goal doesn't always reflect reality.  I think he will at least try, though.

Passing the Presidency on to family would be his next best try for fame...

  No way.

When asked if there were legal loopholes or other ways
for a president to get around the 22nd Amendment,
Stanford University law professor Michael McConnell, a
specialist in constitutional law, had a definitive answer...

"No.  There are none. This will be his last run for president".

There are two ways to go about rolling back an amendment.
The first would require two-thirds of both the House—290
members—and the Senate—67 members—to agree to do so.
Once they did so, three-fourths of all states, 38, would then
also have to agree.

These thresholds would be impossible for Trump to
meet, given Democratic opposition, and there would
also be inevitable Republican outcry as well.

Oh ye of such trust in the political norms and the law... I expect Trump to try it, and I fear he might succeed. He keeps surprising us by how he games the rules.

Just off the top of my head, he might get his first term negated.

He might get resign when Vance gets elected, become Vance's Vice-President, and convince Vance to resign (money, power elsewhere) and legally assume the office again.

He might convince his hand-picked Supreme Court to declare the 22nd Amendment unconstitutional.

And suppose The Supreme Court didn't agree (after Trump chose all the military leaders)? Trump could and would say "You and what army?".

Too many people seem to think that Trump will observe social and political "norms" in his 2nd term. He won't because he hasn't in the past and sees no benefit in doing that in the future.

He will break every rule he can to get what he wants. Anyone who thinks Trump will obey any law or norm is living in La-La-Land...

[Thumpalumpacus]

I want to say something else about Trump.  He can't stand being "2nd".  So, because Franklin Roosevelt had 4 terms in office, Trump is (in my opinion) going to try to eliminate the 22nd Amendment about term limitations.  He would like to live forever (who doesn't?), but at least die in office as dictator after at least 4 terms.  If they have to pry his body from the Presidential Chair after death, he would probably imagine that as "success".

Yes, I know that sounds unlikely, but a goal doesn't always reflect reality.  I think he will at least try, though.

Passing the Presidency on to family would be his next best try for fame...

  No way.

When asked if there were legal loopholes or other ways
for a president to get around the 22nd Amendment,
Stanford University law professor Michael McConnell, a
specialist in constitutional law, had a definitive answer...

"No.  There are none. This will be his last run for president".

There are two ways to go about rolling back an amendment.
The first would require two-thirds of both the House—290
members—and the Senate—67 members—to agree to do so.
Once they did so, three-fourths of all states, 38, would then
also have to agree.

These thresholds would be impossible for Trump to
meet, given Democratic opposition, and there would
also be inevitable Republican outcry as well.

All of this, of course, relies upon the assumption that Trump will abide black-letter law, which I'm not so certain will be the case. At any rate we're about to derail this into another Trump thread, so if you wish to take up this post in reply let's carry it over to the Trump thread.

[brewerb]

OK, not about knights and shrubbery, moving on.

[Inkubus]

[Minimalist]

"No.  There are none. This will be his last run for president".

Of course....he could run for VP and then force out the winner.