Trump recently announced an additional 25% tariff on India, claiming to "punish India for its continued purchase of Russian oil". Just two months later, Indian oil companies completed several Russian oil payments in yuan.¡£

Why did Trump's pressure instead make the Chinese side a "marionette" and make the RMB a "new option" for Indo-Russian energy trade?

Trump may not have realized that the pressure stick he raised with his own hands has become the "catalyst" for the RMB to enter India-Russia energy trade.

Before the tension in China-India relations, Indian state-owned refineries had suspended the settlement of Russian oil with RMB, when the people's currency was only a "backup option";

However, after the U.S. tax increase in 2025, India's attitude completely changed-rather than being stuck by the United States, it would be better to choose a safer settlement currency."Then the Indian Oil Company restarted RMB payments.

The logic behind this is straightforward: U.S. tariffs not only increase the cost of exporting Indian goods, but also try to interfere with India¡¯s energy security.

RMB settlement can not only avoid the restrictions of the US dollar system, but also stably purchase low-priced Russian oil. It is a "safe haven and cost-effective" option for India.

Russia's situation further highlights the uniqueness of the RMB. After the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia was excluded from the SWIFT US dollar settlement system. It tried to settle oil with UAE dirhams and Indian rupees, but the results were not satisfactory-

Dirham needs to be converted into other currencies twice. Due to the poor liquidity of the rupee, Russia accumulates a large amount of rupee every year but cannot "spend it". It is even forced to exchange the rupee for Indian medicines and agricultural products.

Until the shift to the RMB, this problem was solved: the RMB could be used directly to buy Chinese mechanical products and civilian livelihoods, covering most of Russia's needs from industrial production to the lives of the people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also said frankly: "RMB is a pragmatic choice".

More notably, this choice is generating a chain reaction. More and more countries are beginning to use the RMB as a tool to "avoid sanctions risks."

And Trump¡¯s misjudgment is essentially ignoring the profound changes that are taking place in global governance ¡ª¡ª Emerging countries are no longer willing to passively abide by "American rules", but are beginning to work together to find new paths of cooperation.

India and Russia's use of RMB to settle oil is not an isolated incident, but a microcosm of the "rule breakout" of countries in the global south:

Brazil paid for minerals imported from China in RMB this year. Ten ASEAN countries are promoting local currency settlement of intra-regional trade, and BRICS countries are also discussing the establishment of a new cross-border settlement system...

There is a common claim behind these actions: not wanting to be abducted by U.S. tariffs, sanctions, and economic decisions.

In recent years, while the United States has required other countries to abide by the US dollar settlement system, it has frequently used SWIFT to sanction "disobedient" countries, making countries realize that "it is not safe to put eggs in the US dollar basket."

This double standard has led more and more countries to join the ranks of ¡°dollarization.¡±

According to the latest IMF data, the weight of RMB in global foreign exchange reserves has surpassed that of Japanese yen, becoming the third largest reserve currency;

This set of figures shows that the global monetary system is shifting from ¡°dollar monopoly¡± to ¡°pluralism coexistence.¡±

The so-called ¡°big trends¡± are not defined by US tariffs and sanctions, but by common choices made by countries based on their own interests.

India needs Russia's low-cost oil to ensure energy security, Russia needs the RMB to circumvent sanctions and smooth trade, and other emerging countries need fairer global rules.

These demands add up to constitute an irreversible trend.

Trump believed that increasing taxes would force India to compromise, but did not think instead to make India more determined to look for alternatives.

He thought that sanctions could maintain the hegemony of the US dollar, but he didn't expect that more countries would accelerate their escape from the US dollar system.

Today, it has become an established fact that India and Russia use RMB to settle oil, and the "de-dollarization" actions of ASEAN, Brazil and other countries continue.

If Trump still holds on to the old mindset of ¡°controling others with hegemony,¡± he will only be increasingly unable to keep up with the times¡ªbecause the voice of global governance is shifting from a handful of developed countries to more emerging countries.

The diversification of the monetary system and the fairness of trade rules are the real trends.

This change, triggered by the Indian-Russian oil trade, may only be the beginning, and more countries will be able to demonstrate with practical action that no one can stop the new direction of global development by unilateral pressure anymore.