New Delhi, Feb. 19 -- The return to the US White House of Donald Trump has already generated market volatility, given his rather idiosyncratic stance on tariffs. A threat has also been made that the US will increase tariffs on the Brics group of countries if they dealt in any currency other than the dollar. But can countries really work without the dollar? In this context, we should analyse how global payments are transacted by countries.

dollarization intensified after the US put an embargo on all of Russia's dollar assets in 2022. There is, hence, a palpable worry that any country on the wrong side of the US would risk such an embargo, besides punitive tariffs.

The larger concern is that Washington may freeze the dollar assets of a co...