Countries around the globe should give up on the US dollar and rely on national currencies in trading with each other, Bolivian President Luis Arce told RT on the sidelines of the 17th BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro.
The BRICS members have intensified efforts to reduce their reliance on third-party currencies in bilateral trade after the West froze Moscow’s assets, mostly held in dollars and euros, as part of sanctions following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022.
In his interview with RT on Monday, Arce made it clear that he supports BRICS’ policies, saying that as part of “decoupling” from the US, “we need as countries in the world… to stop using the US dollar. We have also proposed it.”
“It is better to trade and trust in our own currencies or, at the very least, look for alternative payment mechanisms,” he stressed.
The Bolivian leader said that there is currently “a very clear struggle between the old, declining bloc of the US and Europe versus the emerging bloc of the BRICS countries.”
“We no longer believe that there is dominance by a single country on our planet,” he noted, referring to the US.
By obtaining the status of a BRICS partner country this year, Bolivia gained the opportunity to “access large markets and become part of the bloc that will undoubtedly generate economic benefits for everyone,” Arce said.
BRICS, which held its first summit in 2009, currently includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, the UAE, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Iran. In early 2025, Bolivia, Belarus, Bolivia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, Uganda and Uzbekistan became partners of the bloc. In June, they were joined by Vietnam.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose an additional 10% tariff on any country which “aligns itself” with BRICS, accusing the economic bloc of adopting “anti-American policies.” In February, Trump declared BRICS “dead” and warned that its members would face 100% duties if they “play games with the dollar.”
The same day, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told RT that trading in national currencies has been effective in freeing the BRICS members from Western pressure. Such settlements “have proven their reliability and independence from Western lending institutions that at any moment, as it turned out, can suspend payments,” he said.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last year that Russia has been doing 65% of its trade with fellow BRICS countries in national currencies.
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