Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by TaurenHunter 440 days ago
The global energy market uses the U.S. dollar for pricing and settling transactions since the 70s - the "petrodollar" system.

If they EU push hard for it, they may get someone like Norway to accept Euros.

However, there are energy contracts locked into dollar-based pricing and many exporters need dollars because they hold dollar-based debt, buy goods in dollars or have a currency peg.

For them to accept the relatively unappealing Euros they might ask for a premium to offset conversion costs or risks.

1 comments

But now everyone has the same problem getting dollars because everyone's got tariffs. The EU and their non-American suppliers. If said suppliers need dollars to pay back dollar-based debts, and those debtors aren't in the US, then they are also tariffed. Maybe they're all open to re-denominating debts and contracts in a currency that is easier to obtain and spend.
Sure, there is a greater incentive now to depart the dollar system.

But that would be a monumental shift and the path to that goal is a nightmare with all kinds of challenges.

Rewiring the entire system would take a decade or more.