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.

Trump is oblivious to the fact that BRICS is now a bigger economy than the G7. The US is no longer an essential part of the global economy.

Increasing trade outside of the dollar is the only way countries can protect themselves from economic coercion by the US. In particular, China can obviously see that the US will go after them the same way they did with Russia. So, it would be suicide to agree to tie their global trade to the dollar.

Meanwhile, China also happens to be a bigger trade partner than the US for most of the world. So if it comes to choosing between the US and China, it’s not really much of a choice. Especially given that China exports things people actually need, while the US barely has any manufacturing industry left accounting for less than 15% of the overall economy. The US is a big market, but it’s not essential the way China is.

  • Maeve@lemmygrad.ml
    13·
    2 days ago

    I think the USA is pushing for cashless society partly because both parties see the USD losing hegemony, and it is more surveillable, and a bit of insulation to the power structure. The structure will collapse, of course, but all the billionaires will safely be on their private islands, by then, leaving the masses to sort/fight it out amongst themselves.

    • davel [he/him]@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      11·
      2 days ago

      I don’t know what you mean by a cashless society when it basically already is one.

      If you mean “Central Bank Digital Currency”: I think it is a distraction, a red herring, meaningless, and that even the Federal Reserve doesn’t know what it means by it. It’s nonsense, because the dollar is already digital, and has been for a long time.

      If you mean crypto: the US is not actually pushing for crypto. Only crypto bros are pushing crypto, and only to make line go up and to launder money and to avoid paying taxes. With that said, I don’t know what will happen once some crypto bros get somewhat into the halls of power in January.

      • Maeve@lemmygrad.ml
        3·
        2 days ago

        I do indeed mean a federal reserve cryptocurrency. Banks already have been adopting it and I assume we will see more of it in the next administration. I see it akin to the electronic version of the policing tactic known as kettling. This won’t do anything in the long run, other than buy time for the Scrooge McDucks to escape and target other currencies. And I suspect they have plans for BRICS. To what extent those plans may succeed will depend on the foresight of BRICS, I would imagine.

        It’s difficult for me to speak in specifics, never having had resources sufficient enough to plan for centuries, before. The people of whom I speak do have those kinds of resources, and their dynasties have had them for centuries, passing those strategies down for generations. I would imagine there are contingency plans for contingency plans, but I’m having difficulty imagining what that looks like.