Dollar down after US tariffs suspended: experts, ‘Damage is now done by Trump’

The US currency is losing ground against the euro, pound, yen and Swiss franc. The slowdown is linked to the volatility of the Trump administration’s trade decisions

The dollar continues to lose ground against major international currencies, weighed down by the uncertainty surrounding US trade policy. Following President Donald Trump’s announcement to suspend most of the previously imposed tariffs – with the exception of those against China – the currency market reacted by penalising the greenback.

According to the latest reports, the dollar fell by 1 per cent against a basket of equivalent currencies. The euro rose 1.1 per cent to $1.11, while sterling gained 0.9 per cent to $1.29. More marked was the appreciation of the Swiss franc (+2.2%), which now stands at CHF 0.84 per dollar. The Japanese yen gained +1.5% to 145 yen per dollar.

‘Our assessment is that the damage to the dollar has been done, both in terms of relative economic growth performance and the willingness of foreign investors to finance the US external deficit,’ wrote George Saravelos, head of foreign exchange research at Deutsche Bank, in a note reported by the Financial Times.

According to Saravelos, the US currency and the US fixed income market will henceforth be ‘much more sensitive’ not only to the decisions of the US administration, but also to the mood of foreign investors and the sensitive issue of the so-called ‘twin deficit’ – the combination of the trade deficit and the federal budget in the red.

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(Photo: © AndKronos)