eli5 De Dollarization
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After WWII the US’ economy was left pretty much unscathed, unlike every other industrialized nation. The US told everyone, “let me help write your country’s security policy to fight the commies and I’ll let you sell your stuff in my country.” Anyone that took the US up on that deal became allies and any trade deals were made in terms of US dollars. After decades it just became standard, even if 2 countries don’t use the dollar traded with each other, they’d be very likely to trade in US dollars, especially when it comes to oil. Some countries want to get away from that being the standard since it gives the US so much power as demand for any currency is what gives it its value. If you go anywhere in the world and wanted to trade your US dollars for the local currency, they would be more than happy to take it, the same can’t be said for other currencies.
The problem is the US can deal a major blow to your economy by levying sanctions against it and preventing electronic transfers of dollars to and from your country. Countries on the receiving end of these sanctions or countries that don’t want the US to dominate the finance world would like to stop making all their international transactions in US dollars.
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