The Republican presidential candidate has stated that economic restrictions imposed by the US on other countries are detrimental to the dollar.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has pledged to significantly reduce the use of sanctions by the US if he wins the election in November.
During a speech at the Economic Club of New York on Thursday, Trump was asked if he intends to “strengthen or modify” Washington’s economic restrictions on Russia and other nations.
“I prefer to use sanctions as little as possible,” he said, explaining that there is “a problem” with the US’s extensive reliance on such penalties, because “ultimately it weakens the dollar and everything the dollar represents.”
He asserted the “importance” of the dollar maintaining its position as the international reserve currency.
“If we lost the dollar as the world currency, I believe that would be equivalent to losing a war, it would make us a third-world country. We cannot allow that to happen,” he stated.
Trump, who imposed various restrictions on Russia, Iran, and North Korea during his presidency between 2017 and 2021, acknowledged that he himself has been the “user of sanctions.”
“I utilize sanctions very effectively against countries that deserve them. Then I lift them because, look, you are losing Iran, you are losing Russia. China is trying to make their currency the dominant one… all of these things are happening,” he said.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin asserted earlier this week that “no other [US] president has ever imposed as many restrictions and sanctions against Russia” as Trump.
Commenting on Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, Putin stated she has “a very contagious laugh, which indicates that everything is fine for her… but if everything is so great for Ms Harris, perhaps she would refrain from acting this way [if she wins the election]?”
The US and its allies have imposed a record 22,000 sanctions on Moscow since 2014, when Crimea rejoined Russia and a conflict between Ukraine and the Donbass republics erupted following a Western-backed coup in Kiev. The number of curbs surged following the initiation of Moscow’s military operation against Ukraine in February 2022. Russian authorities have denounced the sanctions as illegal, responding with travel bans on Western officials and other measures.
In July, the Washington Post reported that a third of the world’s nations, including 60% of low-income countries, are currently subject to some form of US sanctions. Sources told the paper that there is chaos at the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), as it can no longer manage the workload of maintaining such a complex network of economic penalties.