Can BRICS Break The Dollar's Grip?

For decades, the U.S. dollar has ruled the world. Whether a Brazilian farmer sells soybeans to China or an Indian company buys oil from the Middle East, chances are the transaction runs through greenbacks. Nearly 80 percent of global trade is still denominated in dollars—even when neither the buyer nor the seller is American.

But a new club of rising powers is asking: why?

The BRICS bloc—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—has grown into one of the world's most ambitious coalitions, recently expanding to include heavyweights like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the UAE. Collectively, the group represents almost half the world's population and an ever-growing share of global output. Now, BRICS is taking aim at the heart of America's financial supremacy: the dollar. There is a concerted and growing effort, led by China and joined by other BRICS members, to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar for trade and finance.