image: Jorge
By Elson Concepcion Perez on December 12, 2024
US President-elect Donald Trump, faced with the threat of “the end of the dictatorship of the dollar,” announced the imposition of tariffs on the countries belonging to the Brics.
Threat as a policy has been imposed in the governmental lineage of the presidents of the United States when they wage wars or sanction whoever is convenient for them.
Donald Trump is a specialist in this type of action. Now, without taking office yet, he has said that “there is no opportunity for the Brics countries that are trying to move away from the dollar, and we demand a commitment from those governments not to create a new currency to replace the ‘mighty’ dollar”.
And he remarked: “there is no chance for the Brics to replace the U.S. dollar in international trade, and any country that tries to do so should say goodbye to the U.S.”. The only thing missing was the leather belt to “hit” those who misbehave and dare to challenge the empire.
The initial sanction expressed by the new president is that “tariffs of 100% will be imposed on them if the Brics try to move away from the US dollar”.
In this regard, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the U.S. of using its currency as a weapon. “We are not the ones who refuse to use the dollar,” he said, as quoted by AP, and added, ”but if they don’t let us work, what can we do? We are forced to look for alternatives.”
The logic is -according to what the bloc has discussed- even if Trump does not share it, to look for a solution to the issue of the use of national currencies as payment platforms for exchanges between the group’s member countries.
However, as the top leaders of the Brics have acknowledged, this is a very difficult and time-consuming task because, among other factors, 88% of international currency transactions are carried out in dollars and more than half of trade is based on that currency, as RT reports.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained that, according to some specialists, a new payment system without using the U.S. dollar could initially be digital, allowing central banks to directly manage these transactions.
The case of Russia is the best example. It is a world power in raw materials and its trade, as stated by President Putin, is currently carried out, 40% of imports and exports, in its national currency, the ruble.
China, another giant member of the Brics, moves much of its trade with the use of national currencies, and the yuan is climbing to surprising levels. These two factors may be the most worrying for those who want to keep the dollar anchored, not only for commercial exchange, but also as a political weapon, for sanctions and wars.
In this regard, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, in Germany, published that Joe Biden’s administration sent more than 76 billion dollars in military assistance to Ukraine, between February 2022 and December 2023, which has greatly affected the finances of the northern nation.
The Russian leader stated that “the U.S. share in the world economy is decreasing and, therefore, so is the influence of the dollar in world economic processes”.
It would not be an illusion to think that in the future, perhaps not too distant, the world will be freer and more sovereign in the use of its currencies, and say goodbye to the dictatorship of the dollar.
But what the international community urgently needs first is solidarity, whether with the dollar or with any other currency, as long as the sovereignty of each people is respected, and the Brics are the closest and clearest.
Source: Granma, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English