Trump Economist Signals Weaker Dollar
Plus, banker Jamie Dimon praises Israel, talks tough on Iran
President Trump’s choice to be chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, a 2010 Harvard economics Ph.D. named Stephen Miran, wrote a November 2024 paper for Sander Gerber’s Hudson Bay Capital in which Miran says, “The root of the economic imbalances lies in persistent dollar overvaluation that prevents the balancing of international trade.” He also writes, “While many analysts believe there are no tools available to unilaterally address currency misvaluation, that is not true.”
“From a trade perspective, the dollar is persistently overvalued, in large part because dollar assets function as the world’s reserve currency. This overvaluation has weighed heavily on the American manufacturing sector while benefiting financialized sectors of the economy in manners that benefit wealthy Americans,” Miran writes.
The Miran paper describes a scenario in which the U.S. and other governments conspire to drive down the price of the dollar relative to foreign currencies. “It is easier to imagine that after a series of punitive tariffs, trading partners like Europe and China become more receptive to some manner of currency accord in exchange for a reduction of tariffs,” he writes.
Miran describes a prospective “Mar-a-Lago Accord”—modeled on the Bretton Woods or Plaza accords.
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