The Dollar’s Dominance Is Shakier Than Ever

In the months before August’s gathering of BRICS leaders in South Africa, rumors of a new BRICS currency swirled—only to fail to manifest at the summit itself. But don’t confuse a single summit’s headlines with evidence of a trend.

The wake of the BRICS summit splashes into a world much riper for de-dollarization now than it was even six months ago. BRICS, now BRICS+ due to the admission of new members, deserves only partial credit. In the last six months, tectonic shifts in China’s economy and in Washington have cleared the path for de-dollarization—an open route that BRICS+ can now step into.

BRICS+ may bring the global south’s economic statecraft from the 20th to the 21st century. In the 20th century, non-Western economic blocs, such as OPEC, gained geopolitical power through their control over the supply of specific economic commodities, such as oil. In the 21st century, non-Western economic blocs, such as BRICS+, can gain influence over the West through several economic channels at once. Twentieth-century oil embargoes may seem passe, even puny, relative to the 21st-century trade and financial actions that BRICS+ could theoretically now manage.

You can preview these new tools of economic statecraft in the composition of the admitted members who expanded the bloc from BRICS to BRICS+.

With Egypt, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia, BRICS+ can disrupt world trade not just in oil, but in everything. These three countries encircle the Suez Canal and effectively turn it into a BRICS+ lake. The canal is a key artery of the world economy. Some 12 percent of all global trade runs through the canal, which runs from the Mediterranean into the Red Sea. And it is the Red Sea that BRICS+ now encircles. Embanked by Egypt on the west and Saudi Arabia to the east, the Red Sea may not have beaches in landlocked Ethiopia, but Ethiopia is a regional power in East Africa. It has influence over the other East African countries, like Sudan and Somalia, that fill out the rest of the Red Sea’s western shore. If you wanted to weaponize the Suez’s importance in global trade, you’d have admitted Egypt, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia. BRICS admitted Egypt, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia.

🔗Source: Foreign Policy

Related Reading: 7/26/23 —  The End of The PetroDollar, The Rise of BRICS is Here

8/25/23 — BRICS Doubles Share of Global Oil Production In Welcoming Six New Members at BRICS Summit in S. Africa

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