Donald Trump’s victory in November’s US presidential election saw the US dollar strengthen. It surged to a one-year high within two weeks, and has since retained its strength against its major peers. His election has also again brought the prospect of US tariffs on imports, and attention has focused on the disruption to global trade that these may bring.
As part of this, Trump made a not-so-veiled threat of steep levies on the Brics group of leading emerging markets should they create a rival to the US dollar, which has been the world’s “dominant currency” since the second world war.
