My Take | The end of US-dollar dominance will come, but not yet
Trump’s latest spat with Brics nations over their threat to challenge the greenback is premature despite Washington’s abusive weaponisation of the currency
If nothing else, Donald Trump is always good for a headline. The man can’t announce a policy without his customary bravado. Well, at least people wouldn’t be bored with the technical details. His latest chest-pounding?
Leave the US dollar alone. Don’t even think about displacing it as the world’s dominant reserve currency. He is now threatening to impose 100 per cent tariffs against Brics countries, or anyone else, if they try to do it.
“The idea that the Brics countries are trying to move away from the dollar while we stand by and watch is over,” he said.
If only economics and the world itself were so simple!
Trump is buying into Russian sensationalism about replacing the greenback with an alternative currency at the most recent Brics summit, even though the other Brics nations were far more realistic about such a prospect, which has to be a medium-to-long-term project, not something that may be achieved any time soon.
This is despite their and their partners’ recent successes in expanding trade with each other via their own local currencies, especially with commodities such as oil and gas.
