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Why a Pact to Weaken the Dollar Makes No Sense

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Ongoing reports and analysis

Those hoping for a reprieve from the bizarre policies coming out of the White House may be alarmed to hear that the United States will hold the G-20 presidency in 2026. U.S. President Donald Trump could seize the opportunity to push the group for what commentators have begun to call a Mar-a-Lago accord—a revamped version of the Plaza Accord, signed at the Plaza Hotel in New York City in 1985, which saw Japan, West Germany, France, and Britain agree to weaken the dollar by selling U.S. Treasurys.

The motivation for a renewed currency accord stems from the MAGA ideology that links trade, the global financial system, and U.S. security guarantees. The economics of a new currency accord do not add up, however. What’s more, an agreement to weaken the dollar would be almost impossible to achieve, and it would run counter to Washington’s global interests.

Those hoping for a reprieve from the bizarre policies coming out of the White House may be alarmed to hear that the United States will hold the G-20 presidency in 2026. U.S. President Donald Trump could seize the opportunity to push the group for what commentators have begun to call a Mar-a-Lago accord—a revamped version of the Plaza Accord, signed at the Plaza Hotel in New York City in 1985, which saw Japan, West Germany, France, and Britain agree to weaken the dollar by selling U.S. Treasurys.

The motivation for a renewed currency accord stems from the MAGA ideology that links trade, the global financial system, and U.S. security guarantees. The economics of a new currency accord do not add up, however. What’s more, an agreement to weaken the dollar would be almost impossible to achieve, and it would run counter to Washington’s global interests.

No one knows what Trump really wants to do with the dollar—probably not even Trump himself. In recent months, however, a new school of thought led by U.S. Council of Economic Advisers Chair Stephen Miran has gained prominence, arguing for a weaker dollar.

Reading Miran’s November 2024 paper on the subject, in which he proposes a shake-up of the U.S.-dominated global financial system, the theory goes something like........

© Foreign Policy