Dollar hegemony is based on oil being traded in dollars. The US brokered a deal with the Saudis for the Saudis to supply oil in exchange for dollars, which they saved in US Treasuries or spent on military hardware instead of settling international transactions in gold under Bretton Woods. Bretton Woods ended President Nixon closed the gold window for international payments. But the oil for dollars only persisted.
Trump’s Energy Dominance plan is predicated on keeping control of the flow and pricing of oil around the world. This is why he’s meddling around in Venezuela, a project more than twenty years in the making by the U.S. but which he philosophically agrees with.
He has no ability to stop the drive within our government to keep the Middle East a powder keg because Israel acts as if peace is an existential threat.
But none of that will change the trend that now dominates, which is that the U.S., despite Trump’s spastic flailing about, is losing control of the world’s oil pricing. From the petroyuan contract in Shanghai to the strong relationships Russia is building across Europe and Asia there is little the U.S. can do that it already hasn’t done to alter this trend.…
That is now being challenged as the US uses economic warfare to rule the world unilaterally.
An obvious counter would be returning to international settlement in gold. What would happen if the oil producing nations returned to demanding gold for international settlement?
Could this be a factor in Russia and China building their gold reserves, with other central banks following now? Forbes thinks that this is for inflation protection against a falling dollar, but that view is undercut by dollar strength, including the Treasury market. Others believe it is a sign of de-dollarization as countries realize that they, too, are vulnerable to dollar hegemony as a weapon in cementing US global hegemony.
In addition, as climate change bites, countries are going to be forced to move away from the dominance of fossil fuels. They will involve development of sustainable energy sources, storage and distribution. This will also reduce the ability of the US to dominate energy, and it is already happening.
Tom Luongo
Energy Dominance Isn’t Just a Trump Obsession
