To Win the Global Money Game, America Has to Play

For far too many people, moving money around the world is much more difficult than it should be. If President Donald Trump and Congress want to maintain America’s economic leadership — and to defend the role of the dollar as the dominant reserve currency — they should make a greater effort to address this impediment to global prosperity.

Within most countries, it’s easy enough to pay for goods or services, or to send money to a friend. But making payments across borders or currencies is often a lot slower and more expensive. This is particularly true for migrant workers, who can face costs of 6% or more to send money home to their relatives. It’s also a growing problem for people and businesses in lower-income countries, which are increasingly viewed as too risky by the correspondent banks that process international payments — an unintended consequence of measures to crack down on money laundering and terrorist finance.