China, Russia, and their allies just took a big step to challenge the U.S. dollar.
As they wrapped up their annual summit on August 24, the BRICS bloc announced six new member countries.
As you might know, BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
The bloc will now also include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
It’s all part of the BRICS’ plan to challenge Western dominance.
And as I’ll show you today, that could have big implications for your wealth.
Challenging Western Dominance
If you’re a paid-up Distortion Report reader, I first put this trend on your radar in our August 23 issue.
The BRICS 2023 Summit was in full swing as we went to press. In the issue, I wrote that:
One primary topic for discussion at the 2023 Summit is a possible expansion of the BRICS to include additional countries.
The next day, the BRICS announced their six new member countries.
This development is set to become official in January 2024. And it’s a big deal, for two reasons.
First, because three of those countries are among the largest oil producers in the world.
Second, it sets the stage for more dynamic economic opposition to entrenched international organizations like the G20 and the International Monetary Fund.
That’s because, as those organizations struggle to remain unified geopolitically, other international entities are lining up to challenge their global economic influence.
And that’s where this expansion of the BRICS comes into play.
You see, the BRICS are working to challenge Western dominance. And with that, the trend of “geo-protectionism” is growing.
What do I mean by geo-protectionism? It’s a term I coined in my latest book, Permanent Distortion.
Geo-protectionism and the rise of BRICS happened in tandem. I saw this trend well before it became headline news, as my books show.
As I explained it there, the BRICS nations wanted to protect their economic stability from monetary policies that could harm them.
The BRICS bloc was not like NATO, a regional defense alliance. And it wasn’t like NAFTA, an economic trade partnership.
It was not based around regional relationships, cultural similarity, or even military power.
The initial motivating factor was financial defense – as protection against the Western nations.
The BRICS bloc took true shape in order to hedge the financial instability that leveled the global economy in the 2008 financial crisis. I wrote about this in my 2018 book, Collusion.
New World Order
What that all means is that the rise and expansion of the BRICS as an economic bloc is a strategic move to build financial defenses and ensure stability from an increasingly unstable West.
China and Russia in particular have emphasized a New World Order… One that competes against or at least counterbalances Western interests.
And one major way they’re looking to level the global playing field is by reducing dependence on the U.S. dollar.
Here’s what I wrote to Distortion Report subscribers on August 23:
At one point, hype over the “death of the U.S. dollar” for international trade and services was seen as niche financial chatter.
Today, it seems only a matter of time – not until the dollar is gone, but until a rising competitive currency emerges to challenge it.
By adding three of the largest oil producers in the world, the group is positioning itself to take on a major sector in global trade: oil exporters.
By reducing U.S. dollar-based purchases in the global oil market, and replacing the U.S. dollar with an alternative currency… They can siphon off a portion of U.S. oil or petrodollar trade.
To be clear, a decisive global shift away from the dollar is not going to happen overnight or even in the near term.
And the extent to which this just-announced alternative currency relies on a gold link or a commodity basket still remains to be determined.
But this is a big step.
It’s a big step towards reducing U.S. dollar influence in energy and energy-related trade.
What This Means for Your Money Today
Sectors like gold, nuclear energy, and industrial metals are going to see more demand from within the BRICS+ bloc as part of this growing geo-economic shift.
Here’s why…
Almost every member of the BRICS, in its growing bloc, has placed a core emphasis on working together when it comes to energy.
From sharing traditional energy supply… to green and renewable sources and resources… to infrastructure development plans.
And, as I mentioned, one of the countries joining the BRICS is oil giant and Middle Eastern power, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia’s economy stands to gain from oil demand from the BRICS+ bloc.
That’s because, as this shift during de-dollarization starts to begin and take hold… Or if other BRICS members look to the Saudis for trade alliances outside of oil…
Buying oil in alternative currencies to the dollar could diffuse some of the might that the petrodollar system has enjoyed since the 1970s.
And it’s not just about oil. Saudi Arabia is also looking to diversify throughout the energy sector.
They’re exploring ways to become the world’s largest hydrogen producer, and they are buying up rare-earths mines.
This is just one of the geo-economic changes on the horizon that I’m going to be watching closely from the BRICS+ bloc as we move on.
Meanwhile, getting positioned in these areas now can serve as an investment opportunity and a hedge.
This New World Order distortion could push the price of energy, energy technologies, materials, and commodities upward.
Regards,
Nomi Prins
Editor, Inside Wall Street with Nomi Prins
P.S. As I said above, the BRICS are working to challenge the U.S. dollar. But they’re not the only ones…
The Federal Reserve, the White House, and the financial elite are set to enact the biggest change to our money since 1971. I’ve found evidence that they’re colluding to virtually “ban” cash – leading to the end of the dollar as we know it.
But there’s one asset that can help you become your own banker and escape the clutches of this power grab. Click here to learn more.