Opinion
Mint Quick Edit | De-dollarization: Trump should target crypto, not Brics
Summary
- The US President-elect has held out the threat of 100% tariffs against Brics members if they try to replace the dollar as the global trade currency. Perhaps crypto, especially Bitcoin, is the dollar’s real threat.
India has stayed off US President-elect Donald Trump’s target range so far, but Brics was the focus of his latest finger-wag.
On Saturday, he asked the group’s members to commit that “they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar", or else “they will face 100% Tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy."
Also read: Brics wants to create an alternative financial infrastructure. Here's why it matters
For good measure, he added they “can go find another ‘sucker!’" and had “no chance" to replace the US dollar in world trade.
As the dollar’s supremacy doesn’t serve India badly in comparison with Russia, China, Iran and other members, and actual de-dollarization looks unlikely, New Delhi has been a pragmatic foot-dragger in this Brics project.
Perhaps Trump’s ire at dollar challengers is better directed at crypto, especially Bitcoin, which he supports despite its theoretical capacity to dethrone the US currency.
Also read: Brics for India: A trade springboard, not an anti-West wall
Bitcoin’s supply being beyond human control grants it a gold-like allure and it was launched in the context of increasingly unrestrained dollar creation ever since gold was dropped as its anchor in 1971.
This US privilege could be threatened by crypto some day.
