Trump flunks Foreign Relations 101 with basic BRICS mix-up

Donald Trump, who’s never shied away from calling political opponents “dumb” and “stupid,” had a prime opportunity to display his intellectual prowess on Monday. But it didn’t go well, as he bungled a basic fact about a NATO ally.

While answering questions at the signing of a batch of executive orders, Trump responded to a question from the press about whether he intends to punish NATO countries (put a pin in this) that don’t acquiesce to his demand that they use at least 5% of their GDP on defense spending. Trump’s demand stems from his absurd suggestion that countries that haven’t met their defense spending targets are “delinquent” and costing the United States money. The reporter specifically mentioned two of those countries, France and Spain, and questioned whether they could face Trump’s wrath if they fall short.

This was a perfect opportunity for Trump to lean into his dealmaker persona and hit us all with those favorite talking points about NATO countries not “paying their share.”

If only he had a firmer grasp of the facts.

Trump responded by claiming incorrectly that Spain is actually in another alliance, the economic consortium known as BRICS, which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (the alliance also includes Ethiopia, Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iran; but maybe Trump thought the “S” in BRICS stands for Spain? Who can say?) 

“Are they a BRICS nation?” Trump asked before declaring, “They’re a BRICS nation, Spain.” He seemed pretty confident for someone that wrong — which is an unfortunate turning of the tables for someone who rarely passed up the chance to attack Joe Biden for his verbal miscues during the campaign. I laughed when Trump told the reporter, “You will figure out” what BRICS nations are. 

For the record, Trump has proposed imposing 100% tariffs on BRICS countries if they continue to do things that devalue the dollar — a move that could inflict economic pain on Americans as they bear the tariff costs and, as CNBC explained, could be useless in deterring BRICS from growing its power and attracting new members. 

So even if Trump had been right about Spain being in BRICS (again, he was not), his answer would have been a fundamentally ridiculous one. Brace yourselves, fellow Americans, this is the self-proclaimed “genius” who’s shaping our economy for the next four years.