Washington is guarding against the wrong dollar threat

The most consequential matter from Brics leaders at their annual summit in New Delhi this month may be what they chose not to do. There was no launch of a common currency. Instead, their declaration focused on trade in national currencies and on making cross-border payment systems work more easily with one another.

For anyone waiting for a rival to the US dollar, that may sound anticlimactic. But it points to a more plausible challenge: not another currency taking the dollar’s place, but more