US dollar suffers worst start to a year since 1973 over Trump tariff concerns

The US dollar suffered its worst first-half decline in more than 50 years as fears over President Trump’s tariff policies have driven down the world’s principal reserve currency.The greenback weakened 10.7% in the first six months of the year compared to a basket of currencies from major trading partners – the worst drop since 1973 when President Nixon stopped tying the dollar to the price of gold.But its decline could be part of Trump’s broader vision to devalue the dollar — an idea reportedly floated by Stephen Miran, recently appointed Chairman of the US Council of Economic Advisers in what has been dubbed the Mar-a-Lago Accord. Miran has denied this conspiracy in the past.A weaker dollar makes US exports much cheaper, and could aid Trump’s oft-stated goal of boosting manufacturing at home, as well as reducing the nation’s trade deficit, the thinking goes.When he was campaigning for a second term, an official in the first Trump administration told Politico that “currency revaluation is likely to be a priority” because of “the viewpoint that [an overvalued dollar] contributes to the trade deficit.”Trump has not weighed in on the speculation about devaluing the dollar.“President Trump has repeatedly affirmed his commitment to the dominance of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency,” White House press spokesman Kush Desai told The Post on Tuesday.“Ten-year Treasury yields rallying down nearly 40 basis points since Inauguration Day, four consecutive expectation-beating inflation reports, and the trillions in historic investment commitments that have poured into the United States since Election Day are all indicative of the confidence that investors and markets continue to have in our economy and currency.”But many experts claim Trump’s hefty tariffs are putting pressure on the dollar and forcing global investors to rethink their ties to the currency.“Trump is definitely playing with fire,“ Stephen Miller, a consultant ...