A strengthening dollar reignites a recurring debate about how to hit back against countries that deliberately weaken the value of their currencies. Joseph Gagnon (PIIE) and Maury Obstfeld (PIIE, Berkeley) join to discuss two recent and controversial policies proposed to attack that problem. The first is retaliatory tariffs under US countervailing duty law. The second is to give the US Treasury and Federal Reserve new access to hundreds of billions of dollars to use as countervailing currency intervention.
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- C. Fred Bergsten and Joseph E. Gagnon. Currency Conflict and Trade Policy: A New Strategy for the United States. Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2017.
- C. Fred Bergsten and Joseph E. Gagnon. Comments on Proposed Modification of Regulations for Countervailing Duty Proceedings. June 25, 2019.
- Joseph E. Gagnon and Christopher G. Collins. Despite Minor Changes in Treasury’s Foreign Exchange Report, Major Flaws Remain. Peterson Institute for International Economics Trade and Investment Policy Watch, June 12, 2019.
- Soumaya Keynes. America considers retaliating against currency manipulation. But such a strategy could easily backfire. The Economist, July 27, 2019.
