The Dollar Is King, But BRICS May Be Building a Republic

The U.S. dollar continues to reign as the undisputed monarch of the global financial system. As of 2025, it is used in approximately 80% of international trade, and close to 60% of the world’s foreign exchange reserves are held in dollars. It is not merely a currency but a system, deeply embedded in the institutions, laws, contracts, and expectations that define global capitalism. It shapes how oil is bought, how debt is repaid, and how nations are coerced. In many ways, the dollar functions as a weapon as much as a wallet.

This dominance was not won overnight. It was forged in the aftermath of World War II at Bretton Woods in 1944, where the dollar was pegged to gold and other currencies were pegged to the dollar. Even after the United States unilaterally abandoned the gold standard in 1971, the dollar’s supremacy endured. The petrodollar system, formalized when Saudi Arabia agreed to price oil exclusively in U.S. dollars, ensured that any country needing energy had to hold dollars. Over time, this system evolved into a full-spectrum hegemony: financial, institutional, and military-backed.

But in 2025, this system is under visible strain. With Donald Trump back in the White House, the U.S. has taken an explicitly confrontational posture toward the expanding BRICS bloc. In a dramatic policy announcement, President Trump warned that any country aligning with what he calls the “anti-American” agenda of BRICS will face a blanket 10% tariff on all exports to the United States. This move, unprecedented in its scope, is not just about trade. It’s about punishing economic disobedience, and preserving the political reach of the dollar.

Yet, this aggressive measure may achieve the opposite of what it intends. Instead of scaring countries away from BRICS, it could accelerate the bloc’s evolution into a viable alternative to the dollar-dominated order. BRICS has expanded significantly since 2023, now including not only Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, but also Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE. Together, these countries represent over 50% of the world’s population and nearly 35% of global GDP (PPP). They are not outliers; they are the emerging center of gravity in global economic affairs.

Faced with U.S. tariffs and exclusionary policies, BRICS countries are already moving toward a post-dollar reality. China and Russia now settle the vast majority of their bilateral trade in yuan and rubles. India is increasingly paying for Russian oil in rupees. The UAE and China have piloted yuan settlements in oil contracts, and Iran has advocated for using local currencies in trade with Asia. Meanwhile, the idea of a BRICS-wide clearing system or even a common settlement currency is no longer a fringe idea, it is being actively discussed and technologically explored. Initiatives like BRICS Pay, alternative messaging systems to SWIFT, and national digital currencies are all building blocks of financial autonomy.

Beyond currency, the bloc is investing heavily in intra-BRICS trade and South-South connectivity. China is pouring capital into logistics, energy, and digital infrastructure across Africa and Latin America. Russia is reorienting exports eastward. Brazil is expanding its agricultural trade with India and South Africa. In doing so, BRICS is creating new supply chains, new demand centers, and new standards, all outside the traditional Western framework.

Of course, the dollar will not fall overnight. It is embedded in trillions of contracts, in the pricing of commodities, in debt instruments, and in investor psychology. But what BRICS is doing is creating exit ramps from dollar dependency. These parallel systems won’t destroy the dollar, but they will erode its monopoly, slowly, systemically, and irreversibly.

And that’s the paradox. The 10% tariff announced by President Trump may go down in history not as a show of strength, but as the turning point, the moment when the Global South decisively moved to construct a new financial order. A multipolar, decentralized, cooperative alternative that reflects the realities of the 21st century, not the privileges of the 20th.

The dollar remains king but kings fall, not through confrontation alone, but when enough of the world simply stops obeying. What BRICS is doing is not staging a coup. They’re building a republic of currencies, one in which no single nation can dictate terms to the rest.

In this light, the U.S. tariff threat may not break BRICS, it may make them stronger, more united, and more determined. And in doing so, it may signal not the end of the dollar, but the end of its unquestioned supremacy.