Commentary: America is risking its biggest asset

NEW YORK: Earlier in the 21st century, nations embraced the idea that global economic integration was in everyone’s best interests. Today, there’s been a darker shift, with countries including the United States choosing to weaponise the interdependence of the global economy against one another, using whatever unique assets they control as a source of leverage. The United States’ most potent version of this strategic tool, known as a choke point, is control over the US dollar. It demonstrated as much when it denied Iran and Russia access to the dollar-based global payment and banking infrastructure over a decade ago. That…