International Currency Politics

The world’s reserve and leading currency will survive even during the transformation phase towards a multipolar order. 

Thomas Kolbe | April 23, 2026

In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump indicates the imminent return of Russia to the SWIFT payment system. It would mark the end of sanctions against Russia. But the Prussians are not shooting that fast anymore.

Currency policy is geopolitics. This is especially true as soon as the U.S. dollar is involved. And that is almost everywhere and at any time on the globe, no matter how often European and Chinese media sound the death knell over King Dollar. It may specifically be an annoyance to European politics and Beijing, but for the time being the U.S. dollar remains the world’s leading and reserve currency, giving the United States the leeway to defend their market dominance while rolling their debt burden relatively smoothly into the future. 

Washington is working under high pressure not to let this monetary configuration change, at least for the moment.

In this context, one must interpret the Truth Social post by President Trump from the weekend: Trump indicated in a video that Russia is ready to return to the U.S.‑regulated global financial system SWIFT.

In essence, Trump is saying that Russia has understood that SWIFT and the dollar represent the future -- not the dream of a BRICS currency. Indeed, one has heard little from the BRICS project in recent years; it seems the two main actors, China and........

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