Trump Wrongly Insists Spain Is BRICS Nation While Threatening 100% Tariff

President Donald Trump stumbled through a bizarre exchange with reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, repeating a glaring geopolitical blunder that Spain was a member of the BRICS economic coalition.

While signing a flurry of executive orders—ranging from the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization to pardoning around 1,500 individuals involved in the January 6th Capitol riot—Trump confidently asserted that Spain is a member of BRICS, the economic union comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

When a reporter in the Oval Office asking about economic relations mentioned Spain, Trump replied:

They’re a BRICS nation, Spain. You know what a BRICS nation is? You’ll figure it out. But… And if the BRICS nations want to do that, that’s okay, but we’re going to put at least a 100% tariff on the business they do with the United States. You know what the BRICS is, right? You guys know. You know what I’m saying.

The reporter did not correct or reply to the president.

The BRICS bloc, originally coined by economists in the early 2000s to group emerging markets with high growth potential, has long been established as a five-member club. In the past several years, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates have all joined.

Spain, a member of the European Union, however, has never been part of it. Trump promised after winning the election that he’d implement a 100% trade tariff on member states of BRICS.

Watch above via C-SPAN.