The Dollar’s Monopoly in Payments Will Soon Be History
The shift may start with transactions where it just greases the wheels of commerce.
Tourists in Hoi An shouldn’t need the dollar to access the Vietnamese dong.
Photographer: James MacDonald/Bloomberg
The social-media video where Donald Trump’s AI avatar is making Nike sneakers may be just a spoof on the US president’s quixotic bid to reindustrialize America by eliminating bilateral trade deficits. But the meme contains a kernel of truth. The world’s farmers, fishermen, and factory workers labor hard to earn the $100 bill that the Federal Reserve prints at no cost. This exalted status, which a French politician from the 1960s termed as the dollar’s “exorbitant privilege,” has been taken to a breaking point by the tariff war.
No matter what happens in the long run to the US currency’s value or its role as a safe haven for central banks and private investors, one thing is clear: The greenback’s monopoly in payments, whereby it’s exchanged in 88% of all trades, is headed for the history books. A weekend trip to Vietnam brought that home to me.