Donald Trump is escalating his threats to increase tariffs on imports if he wins a second term in the White House, reviving fears of renewed trade wars that hit the global economy during his presidency.
On Saturday, Trump went further, promising tariffs of 100 per cent on imports from countries that were moving away from using the dollar — a threat that could engulf many developing economies too.
“I’ll say, ‘you leave the dollar, you’re not doing business with the United States. Because we’re going to put a 100 per cent tariff on your goods,’” he said at a rally in Wisconsin.
“If we lost the dollar as the world currency, I think that would be the equivalent of losing a war,” he told the Economic Club of New York on Thursday.
I hate it when bad people make good points, because the US dollar is absolutely a bludgeoning tool in economic warfare. The might of the US dollar as an economic weapon was in full display when the foreign appropriations act of 1991 severely exacerbated the collapse of Yugoslavia.
The US dollar should not be the de facto world currency, and trying to stop progress through these means will isolate the US from the entire world.