A weak dollar has always been part of the Trump agenda. “We have a big currency problem,” Trump said in a 2024 interview with Bloomberg. “Nobody wants to buy our products because they’re too expensive,” he added. After he began his second term in
2025, he said, “I will never say I like a low currency…but you make a hell of a lot more money with a weaker dollar.”
The logic goes that a weak dollar allows for faster economic growth and smaller trade deficits. Manufacturers such as Caterpillar that make more than half their sales overseas get more dollars when converting other currencies into the greenback. Companies like Nvidia and Micron Technology are in the same position.
But here’s the challenge: If the dollar slides too much, then the U.S. runs the risk of effectively importing inflation. Everything the nation buys abroad, from electronics to vehicles, becomes more expensive. Americans imported $348.9 billion worth of goods in November, $56.8 billion more than the value of the goods sold abroad.