Is the dominance of the dollar about to fade away? Donald Trump insists that “if we lost the dollar as the world currency . . . that would be the equivalent of losing a war”. Yet he himself could be the cause of such a loss. Reliance on a foreign currency depends on trust in its own soundness and liquidity. Trust in the dollar has been slowly eroding for a while. Now, under Trump, the US has become erratic, indifferent and even hostile: why would one trust a country that has launched a trade war on allies?
Yet, while outsiders might wish to diversify away from the dollar, they lack a compelling alternative. So, what, if anything, might replace its hegemony?