March 26th, 2018. Mark that date in your memory.
As I write this, tomorrow is the day that China officially activates the Petroyuan system.
If you only follow MSM you may not even realize what the Petroyuan system is. This is a system where oil may be sold on the global market using Chinese yuan, bypassing the decades-old Petrodollar system. The Petrodollar has propped up the value of the dollar since the early 1970's. It really means that the value of the dollar is based largely on resources which the US does not own.
The Petrodollar is a system by which all oil sold globally must be purchased using US currency. Other countries must convert their currency on the global exchange to dollars before they can purchase oil from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, etc. ALL countries have been subjected to this system, which has given massive economic leverage to the US.
This system has also led to the US claiming the “need” to “protect” the oil supplies in other countries. It has led to the ability to enact sanctions, such as those against Venezuela, who allegedly has the largest oil reserve on the planet. Yet sanctions threaten any country purchasing oil from Venezuela, resulting in the humanitarian crisis happening there. The protection of the Petrodollar has led to our military actions in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and Syria, among others.
The Petrodollar system has been despised by many countries for over 40 years due to the fact that it is supported militarily and inflates the value of the dollar artificially. This system dictates largely the cost of fuel and power in countries other than our own. It gives America an unfair trade advantage, causing the value of other currencies to be suppressed as a result. It manipulates the free market to our benefit (or at least the benefit of the richest in the US).
The greatest irony involved is that the Petrodollar system arose in response to Nixon defaulting on the national debt, payable in gold in 1971. Now China is backing the value of the Petroyuan using.. gold. Where the dollar has held value based solely on the value of the dollar, the Petroyuan will be backed by hard assets. Meaning it is a more secure system.
This, above all else, probably is the impetus for the trade sanctions being placed on China at this time. Those were merely an introduction to further actions in the future.
So, what can we expect beginning on 3/26/18?
It's doubtful that we will see an instantaneous power or trade shift. We do know that Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Venezuela have agreed to trade in yuan. Most likely Iran has also. So the shift will not be a slow one. It will happen far more rapidly than the changes seen in the 1970's in favor of the US.
This is not the only influence which will be affecting the US dollar in the coming months. However, it is a very large influence. In all, we can absolutely expect to see the value of the dollar decrease on the global market while the yuan increases rapidly. We may also see a large rise in the value of the ruble in international trade in spite of sanctions and political pressure.
One should notice that as the date has drawn near, US military presence surrounding China has increased dramatically. Mostly on the premise of a threat from North Korea and claims of China being a commercial threat to other countries in the South China Sea. Yet military presence does little to nothing to avert any such threats. The only ways those threats can be resolved is through diplomacy and trade agreements, most of which the US has no direct part in. Instead, the goal is intended to be intimidation against China and possibly Russia as oil trade increases and the US can claim no profit in that trade.
What we should expect to see is a gradual increase in the number of countries signing on to trade oil in yuan as the Petroyuan is considered less of an experiment and more of a valid direct challenge to the Petrodollar, as more countries do agree to trade oil in yuan.
Expect to see increasing military and political posturing by the US. There is the strong possibility of direct military confrontation under other pretenses.
Europe will make some tentative moves to support the US in the beginning due to European banks holding investments in the US stock market. This will not last long, months at most, as stocks decrease in value and European banks divest from those holdings, driving stocks down further in rapid succession.
In the process of this, it is highly likely that the value of gold will rise on the international market, though China and Russia are on a separate gold exchange than the West. That will cause the value of the yuan to rise even more.
China is expected to increase their oil trade gradually, as some expect the rising value of the yuan to cause inflation in China. So that must be balanced with trade in other areas and allow for increasing incomes in their country. Which is why they are concurrently building out trade via the Belt and Road Initiative, also nicknamed the New Silk Road. That effort spans increasing trade efforts across multiple countries.
Almost none of this has been reported except in passing in Western media. So it will come as a surprise to many in the West.