Washington’s new import tax plans will backfire, Booker Omole has said
The US proposal to impose a blanket 10% tariff on imports from BRICS nations is likely to backfire and hasten the global shift away from dollar dominance, Booker Omole has said.
Speaking to RT, the general secretary of the Communist Party Marxist – Kenya described the planned tariffs as part of a broader strategy aimed at what he characterized as “rescu[ing] the strategic decline of the US imperialism.” He argued that rather than weakening the BRICS countries, such measures would likely expedite their efforts to trade in national currencies and develop an alternative financial system.
“If the tariffs were actually aimed to isolate particularly China, Russia and the countries of the BRICS, then it will actually reinforce the currency swipe strategy that is currently ongoing and can only deepen the trade in the national currencies of the BRICS countries, and actually to accelerate an alternative financial system and challenge to the dollar supremacy,” Omole remarked.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Donald Trump confirmed that the US would impose new tariffs on BRICS members “pretty soon.” He added that, “If they’re a member of BRICS, they’re going to have to pay a 10% tariff – and they won’t be a member long,” according to Reuters.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said recently that the group’s cooperation is not meant to confront anyone in particular, and that it is “really disappointing” that BRICS is seen “in negative light.” Omole said that Ramaphosa’s statement was necessary, but that the influence of the group would continue to rise. “Even though President Ramaphosa might appear diplomatic, but indeed BRICS is accelerating the permanent decline of the US empire,” he asserted.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Ministerial Conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum in November, Mashood Jacob Ajene, an expert with the Africa-Russia Research Centre in Ghana, told RT that moving away from dependence on the US dollar could transform Africa’s economic future. “The US is very powerful because of the dollar, and the dollar is only a paper,” Ajene remarked, saying that Africa’s reliance on the dollar constrains its potential.
BRICS was established in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2010. Over the past year, the group has extended full membership to Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia. The bloc’s partner countries include Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan.
