BEIJING, April 16. /TASS/. The tariff war unleashed by the US will only weaken the position of the US dollar as a global reserve currency and speed up de-dollarization, Zheng Runyu, expert at the Center for Russian Studies at East China Normal University in Shanghai, told TASS.
"The trade war unleashed by the US is inseparably linked to maintaining their financial hegemony. However, their approach to using the US dollar as a global reserve currency for a long time has made the Triffin paradox (the Triffin dilemma, where a country struggles to balance global currency demand with domestic monetary needs - TASS) even more obvious and has worsened the situation. There is no reasonable option for resolving the internal contradiction between the hegemony of the US dollar and liquidity under normal economic and trade relations. Now the US wants both. The harsh practice of raising tariffs, if it continues and intensifies, will ultimately only weaken the dollar," the expert believes.
In his opinion, in the conditions of escalating tariff war, countries that were initially concerned about the US dollar will have the opportunity to strengthen unity and advance the process of de-dollarization.
"Under the current circumstances, cooperation on de-dollarization in the financial sector between China and Russia, as well as within the BRICS, has become more realistic. If in the past China, Russia or the BRICS countries only considered replacing the US dollar hypothetically, then in the context of the tariff war from the US, China, Russia and the BRICS countries need to truly promote an effective de-dollarization process through practical cooperation," Zheng Runyu believes.
On April 2, Trump announced the introduction of customs duties on products from 185 countries and territories. Russia is not on this list. Universal tariffs of 10% came into force on April 5, individual tariffs on April 9. In addition, the US administration has imposed customs duties of 25% on all imported cars since April 3.
On April 9, Trump suspended the individual import duties imposed on some countries and territories for 90 days. The White House explained that during the pause, trade negotiations would take place, during which a "universal tariff of 10%" will be in effect.
