Why Resource Control Beats Dollar Dominance

The global financial order is shifting beneath our feet. While headlines focus on tariffs and trade tensions, a quieter revolution is unfolding—one that could fundamentally reshape how the world conducts business. In this episode of Think BRICS, we sat down with YouTuber and business consultant Cyrus Janssen to discuss why BRICS nations are challenging dollar dominance, what the West gets wrong about China, and how resource control is becoming the ultimate geopolitical lever.

Janssen brings a unique perspective to these questions. After moving to Shanghai in 2007 to pursue a career as a golf professional, he spent years building businesses and bridging the gap between American and Chinese markets. His experience living in China during its explosive growth period gave him front-row seats to the economic transformation that Western media often misrepresents—or ignores entirely.

When BRICS announced plans to launch their own precious metals exchange, many Western analysts dismissed it as symbolic posturing. Janssen sees something different: a brilliant strategic move that leverages the bloc’s massive resource advantage.

The numbers tell the story. BRICS nations control approximately 72% of the world’s rare earth reserves and 70% of global cobalt supplies. But as Janssen explained, it’s not just about having the resources—it’s about processing capability:

“Rare earth minerals are not actually that rare. You can find them in Australia, China, USA, Canada, throughout Europe, Russia has many. But it’s the processing of these minerals that is really the difference maker. A lot of facilities around the world can process to 99.5% purity, but only the Chinese can process to 99.9%. That 0.4 percentage difference is the difference between being able to use that mineral in advanced technologies like semiconductors or advanced weaponry.”

This technological edge has real-world consequences. In April, a Ford Motor factory in the United States shut down for two weeks because it couldn’t access the chips it needed—chips that required Chinese processing capabilities. “So literally the Ford factory in USA shut down for two weeks,” Janssen noted. “They were not able to get the chips they needed to produce cars.”

As artificial intelligence becomes central to economic competition, Janssen highlighted an often-overlooked constraint: electricity generation.

“Everyone’s talking AI right now. AI is the future. But what is the most important thing for AI? It’s actually electricity. In order to power AI, you need to generate a tremendous amount of electricity.”

The contrast between American and Chinese infrastructure investment is stark. The U.S. electrical grid has seen almost zero increase in production over the last 20 years, even as usage has climbed. Meanwhile, China has invested massively in wind turbines, hydroelectric dams, and nuclear reactors.

This is where resources like uranium become critical—and where geopolitical contradictions emerge. Despite sanctioning Russia extensively, the United States still purchases enriched uranium from Moscow because approximately 25% of American power comes from nuclear energy. “Without Russian uranium, millions of Americans would not have electricity,” Janssen explained. “This is not often talked about in the media because we don’t want to say we need Russia.”

One of the most striking parts of our conversation centered on U.S. foreign policy and why it’s driving nations toward BRICS partnerships. Janssen didn’t mince words about what he sees as America’s fundamental problem: arrogance.

“The biggest problem in America is that we have an arrogance issue. Our politicians have this thing called American exceptionalism—this belief that we are exceptional, we’re the number one country in the world, we’re better than every single person. Our foreign policy will literally say the best foreign policy is America first. We should always be the winner, and if you allow America to win, then we’ll allow you to prosper. But we have to come first.”

He contrasted this approach with China’s diplomatic strategy in Africa, where 63 of 64 nations have pledged allegiance to Beijing. The difference? Respect and individualized attention.

When the United States hosts an Africa summit, it addresses the entire continent as a single entity. China, by contrast, conducts 54 individual meetings with each nation’s leaders, asking what each specific country needs and how they can work together.

“African leaders will say, ‘We love dealing with the Chinese because they respect us. They value us. They partner with us,’” Janssen observed. “Even if it’s a very small developing country, China treats them with the same respect they’d give to Russia or the United States. They treat everybody on an equal playing field.”

Janssen shared a particularly revealing example of how American indifference pushes nations toward China. The Solomon Islands, a small nation off the coast of Australia, repeatedly asked the U.S. government for help removing World War II-era bombs and landmines that were killing children.

The American response? “Your country is not important to us. Solomon Islands means nothing.”

When China stepped in, offering to build an embassy and invest in infrastructure, the U.S. suddenly became interested. “All of a sudden, USA said, ‘Oh whoa, wait a second. Actually, we’re interested now. How about we build a US embassy? And by the way, can we send some people over there? Maybe we can start cleaning up those bombs,’” Janssen recounted.

The pattern is clear: America only engages when China’s presence creates competition, not when a genuine partnership could benefit the smaller nation.

What makes China an attractive partner for developing nations? According to Janssen, it’s their willingness to separate business from politics.

“China does not care about your politics. You could be a monarchy, you could be a democracy, you could be a dictatorship. All that matters is: we’re going to do a trade deal. You give us A, we give you B. We don’t need to talk about politics. In your country, you run your country the way you run your country.”

This pragmatism extends to China’s development model itself. By demonstrating that rapid economic advancement is possible without adopting Western-style democracy, China has challenged the fundamental assumption that dominated post-World War II development discourse.

“In the United States, we preach one message: the only way you can be successful as a country is you have to have democracy,” Janssen explained. “But China’s proved to the world that there are other ways to become a successful country.”

The Bretton Woods system established dollar supremacy after World War II, creating the SWIFT payment system and later the petrodollar through a deal with Saudi Arabia. For decades, this arrangement gave the United States extraordinary leverage—the ability to run $38 trillion in debt while still functioning as the world’s reserve currency.

But that system is fracturing. Russia and China now conduct almost 90% of their bilateral trade in local currencies—rubles and yuan. India buys Russian oil using yuan. Ethiopia recently converted its loans from dollars to yuan.

Central banks worldwide are diversifying away from dollar holdings, driving gold prices past $4,000 per ounce. “Central banks around the world are saying, ‘Look, we don’t want to hold so much US dollar because the US is a bully,’” Janssen noted. “’We know the United States will bully you if you do not fall in line with their policies. They have too much leverage. So let’s diversify. Let’s start buying gold.’”

Perhaps the greatest irony in current U.S. policy is that Trump’s aggressive tariff strategy may be accelerating the very de-dollarization he claims to oppose.

When Trump imposed tariffs on allies like India, pushing them toward alternative partnerships, he reinforced the case for BRICS cooperation. “Every attack Trump does on BRICS seems to make this group stronger,” we observed during the interview.

Janssen sees Trump’s trade war as fundamentally backward-looking—an attempt to return to a 1600s-era mercantilism that ignores modern economic realities. “This global economy means we actually depend on trade relationships. I’m not a supporter of Donald Trump and his tariff war because it’s going back hundreds of years to when trade was not easy.”

Despite his defense of China against Western misconceptions, Janssen offered thoughtful criticism of areas where China could improve. Specifically, he believes China should embrace rather than hide its past poverty.

He recalled a famous Chinese actor who became a Canadian citizen and gave an interview describing his impoverished childhood in 1980s China. The interview was banned by Chinese authorities, who didn’t want anyone saying China was poor.

“That’s not a good thing,” Janssen argued. “In the 1980s, China was very poor. That’s simply a fact. You need to take that and realize it’s not really a criticism—it’s actually an advantage. China was one of the top five poorest countries in the world in the 1970s. But now look how much richer and prosperous it is. That’s actually a strength. That’s the story you should share.”

He also acknowledged China faces significant domestic challenges, including a declining population projected to shrink from 1.4 billion to 800 million by century’s end, a maturing real estate market, and the need to manage an aging society.

One of Janssen’s most striking predictions concerns the artificial intelligence bubble currently propping up the U.S. economy.

The “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks—Nvidia, Tesla, Microsoft, Meta, and others—represent approximately 35% of the entire stock market’s value. According to a Harvard professor’s recent analysis, if you remove revenue from AI data centers, U.S. economic growth in the first half of 2025 was just 0.1%.

“All of the economic growth in the US is coming from this one sector,” Janssen explained. “This is why Donald Trump’s message—’stock market’s doing great, economy is doing great, I’m a great president’—is not as simple as that.”

Meanwhile, China is taking a different approach: making AI development open source. When DeepSeek released capabilities matching OpenAI for a fraction of the cost, it demonstrated that China’s model could be both more efficient and more accessible. Remarkably, Airbnb recently revealed it uses Alibaba’s Qwen AI software rather than OpenAI because it’s more advanced for their needs.

For businesses and investors, Janssen’s advice is clear: diversify away from dollar dependence and look toward emerging BRICS markets.

“The US dollar has always been the global reserve currency, but the value of the US dollar has declined a lot. You need to have investments that take into account inflation and loss of purchasing power.”

His recommendations include:

• Investing in gold and precious metals as stores of value

• Exploring opportunities in Chinese companies despite political tensions

• Recognizing that emerging markets offer significant potential as BRICS nations develop

• Understanding that the U.S. will remain powerful but won’t be the sole dominant force

Perhaps the most powerful message from our conversation was Janssen’s emphasis on people-to-people connections over government narratives.

“When I’m in China and people ask where I’m from, I say, ‘I’m from the United States.’ They always say, ‘We love the United States. We love Americans like you. The only thing we don’t like is US government.’ And I always joke with them: ‘Don’t worry. Neither do I.’ Most Americans don’t like US government either. So actually, this is something we have in common.”

This perspective—that ordinary people everywhere share similar aspirations regardless of their government systems—runs through all of Janssen’s work. Whether in Beijing, Moscow, or Los Angeles, people want better lives for their families, economic opportunity, and peace.

“We tend to spend too much time on politics,” he reflected. “Why don’t we talk about our lives? Why don’t we try to connect? If I’m in Russia, I’d like to go for a Russian meal. I’d like to talk about your culture. I’d like to see how you’re living your life and learn about your culture.”

The landscape of global power is shifting in fundamental ways:

1. Resource control is becoming more important than military might, with rare earth processing capabilities and energy resources giving BRICS nations significant leverage

2. China’s diplomatic approach—built on mutual respect and pragmatic trade partnerships—is winning hearts and minds in the developing world while U.S. arrogance pushes nations away

3. The dollar’s dominance is eroding through countless small decisions: currency swap agreements, central bank diversification, and bilateral trade in local currencies

4. American policy contradictions are glaring: sanctioning Russia while depending on Russian uranium, attacking BRICS while driving nations toward it through tariffs

5. The AI bubble may be masking underlying U.S. economic weakness, with growth concentrated in a handful of tech stocks rather than broad-based prosperity

6. Open-source approaches to technology development may prove more sustainable than profit-maximized models, as China’s AI strategy demonstrates

The question isn’t whether the world will become multipolar—it already is. The question is whether the United States will adapt to this reality through genuine partnership and mutual respect, or whether it will continue trying to maintain unipolar dominance through increasingly ineffective coercion.

As Janssen reminded us, we only have one planet to live on. Finding ways for all nations to benefit isn’t just idealistic—it’s the only rational path forward.

What are your thoughts on the changing global financial order? How do you see the BRICS challenge to dollar dominance playing out? Share your perspective in the comments below.

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