President Trump, please smash the dollar

Trump might back down from weakening the dollar. Big mistake.

In this instance, weakness is good.
(Image credit: iStock)

For roughly two decades, American policymaking has devoted itself to a strong dollar.

That means the federal government seeks to keep the U.S. dollar more valuable than other countries' currencies on the international markets. The practice began in the Clinton administration, and ran through the Bush and Obama White Houses. So observers kind of wigged out in January when President Trump said the dollar is "too strong," suggesting his administration might break with his predecessors.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.