Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio
Tyrannical China wants to topple the US dollar
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
May 16, 2023
Telegraph
When the Soviet Union fell, the US became the world’s preeminent superpower…. Chief among the tools at our disposal were financial and banking sanctions…. [T]hey were both symbolically and tangibly effective because every major nation was plugged into a global financial system built on the US dollar and US banks.
However, that system is increasingly being challenged…. In 2022, Russia launched a transfer system to trade with China independent of Western banks. The yuan has since surpassed the dollar as the most traded currency inside Russia. Meanwhile, this January, Russia and Iran linked their financial systems….
This alternative financial system is currently limited by its scope…. Nevertheless, it is providing a lifeline to Vladimir Putin as he resists punitive measures in the wake of his invasion of Ukraine. It also creates a blind spot in which other actors – including nations and companies doing business with America – can hide questionable behaviour from the global community. Moreover, as China’s economy continues to grow, more nations will enter Beijing’s orbit and this emerging system….
Two policy conclusions should follow from these developments. The first is that we need to revitalise domestic manufacturing…. To survive and thrive in a multipolar era, we need to be able to make things again – from semiconductors to pharmaceuticals and everything in between.
The second takeaway is that the US needs to get better at making and keeping friends. We can no longer count on foreign countries to follow our lead by default. To balance Beijing’s growing anti-American coalition, and to keep the dollar as strong as possible, the US must build a coalition of its own….
That will be hard, but…it’s a lot harder to let the world change under your feet and live with the consequences of doing nothing about it.