Trump's attempt to weaken the US dollar spells 'real trouble': analysis

For decades, President Donald Trump has been laser-focused on lowering the value of the U.S. dollar. And as president, he's doubled down on that goal. But one columnist is warning that weakening the dollar may prove hazardous in more ways than one.

In a Wednesday essay, The Atlantic's Will Gottsegen explained that Trump's crusade against the dollar has gone on since long before he was elected to the White House. Trump's anti-dollar campaign began in earnest in 1987, when he took out full-page ads in the New York Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe complaining that the dollar was too strong compared to the "brilliantly managed" Japanese yen.

According to Trump's argument, the comparatively low value of the Chinese yuan and the Japanese yen makes it possible for those countries to manufacture goods on the cheap in international markets. Gottsegen noted that Trump has somewhat succeeded, with the dollar recently losing 1.3 percent of its value in foreign exchange markets compared to other currencies around the globe.

Data from Trading Economics shows that as of February 2026, the dollar index is at 97.741, which is the lowest mark of Trump's second presidency. The dollar hasn't been valued that low since March of 2022, when then-President Joe Biden was still contending with a global supply chain that had been decimated in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia's escalating war in Ukraine and the resulting decades-high inflation that those events helped create.

In order to explain how Trump's actions were contributing to a weaker currency, former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist Kenneth Rogoff told Gottsegen that Trump was effectively "doing a rain dance" in wishing for the devaluation of the U.S. dollar. Rogoff said there were numerous factors at play typically beyond a president's control — like interest rates set by the Federal Reserve – that influence the dollar's value far more than any executive action.

Gottsegen explained that the dollar has long been the world's reserve currency dating back to the post-World War II economic boom. And despite Trump's actions, the dollar is not in jeopardy of losing its status anytime soon, meaning the U.S. can still borrow money for a relatively low cost, effectively impose economic sanctions on adversaries and continue running deficits. However, as the dollar weakens, so does the United States' influence abroad. Gottsegen cautioned that should the dollar continue its slide, it could result in a dramatic shift of the global order — and not in the United States' favor.

"The real trouble, in other words, is not that the dollar’s value is getting weaker," he wrote. "It’s the possibility that America’s allies and trading partners may one day cease to respect it."

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