The world had already been looking for alternatives to the US$ hegemony after seeing the evil designs that had arisen through the weaponization of the US$. That weaponization move, I think, kills all the appetite of continuing to worship the US$ hegemony. But for decades, the world could do nothing about it, as everything is still stuck in the deep-seated reliance on the US$ for the purchase of oil.
No one could come up with a viable alternative - not even Saddam Hussein who tried and wanted to do oil in Euros and had to be destroyed for floating a provocative idea in the minds of the USA. No country was strong enough to undertake another attempt to confront the US$ hegemony, and Saddam Hussein was to be the 'chicken killed to teach the monkeys'. Not until BRICS came quietly into the picture. Touted just an irritant and brushed aside.
BRICS was created to provide a viable alternative to the US$ hegemonic system. It was never meant to be an overnight mission to create a system that can rival the long-standing US$ hegemony, but one that does enough just by chipping away at the US$ foundation. Several global currencies were designated global reserve currencies before the US$, so do not assume that any change of status cannot come forth going forward.
The importance of oil catapulted the US$ to its prime, but that presumption could always change with renewables becoming mainstream and overtaking oil. Does that answer the question why Trump had always been against renewables undermining oil? Trump does not subscribe to climate change. His only preoccupation is 'drill baby drill'.
Trump can have all the oil for himself in time to come, just like having all the unprocessed rare earth dirt that he boasted about. Does the possession of so much rare earth dirt make any difference without to logistics to turn them into useful elements?
Anonymous
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Many people are now talking about the falling importance of fossil fuel in the age of renewables that is to come. How long it is going to last regarding the global dependence on fossil fuel is anybody's guess. Even Middle East oil producers have more or less seen the woods from the trees now.
UAE did not build Dubai as a tourist destination, in an almost desert environment, on the spur of the moment. It was a safety measure, possibly the only alternative available, knowing that the inevitable will happen when oil runs out. Oil is not a finite gift to the Arabs but is exhaustible. Then what?
Saudi Arabia is building its most prestigious NEOM mega project to transform its economy that had been dependent on oil. If oil is unlimited, the Saudis do not have to diversify. More than that, the Saudis are building a nuclear power plant in anticipation of demand for energy. Imagine a country said to be floating on oil having to build nuclear power plants for energy. But I believe the Saudis also saw the woods from the trees and are not putting all its eggs in one basket.
China will be the one country that will show the world that it is possible to live without relying totally on fossil fuel. Chinese renewable energy harvesting is still at its initiation stage and big projects in dam building, nuclear power station building, solar panel fields and wind power projects expansion carried out onshore, offshore and in desert areas are ongoing. China's demand for energy is almost insatiable for its factories. But China has already cut down its transportation system relying on fossil fuel to migrate totally to electrification. You can be sure that what China embarks on is no half-hearted measures taking decades to fulfil.
Having said that, which country is going to be at the forefront when global demand for renewable energy equipment goes ballistic? China will be there and China has the capacity to do that on scale that no one else can match. That is what overcapacity is for.
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