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.
