President-elect Donald Trump railed on social media over the weekend against a group of emerging economies for their attempts to circumvent the dollar. While markets mostly took Trump's words in stride,

The US can't reduce its trade deficit and increase the global dominance of the dollar at the same time, said an economist.

His threat was directed at countries in the so-called BRIC alliance, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.