Daily Junction.mobi portal<figure class="align-center "> <img alt="Valéry Giscard d'Estaing sat alongside John F. Kennedy in the White House." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/746983/original/file-20260709-71-ks0f49.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/746983/original/file-20260709-71-ks0f49.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/746983/original/file-20260709-71-ks0f49.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/746983/original/file-20260709-71-ks0f49.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/746983/original/file-20260709-71-ks0f49.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/746983/original/file-20260709-71-ks0f49.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/746983/original/file-20260709-71-ks0f49.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"> <figcaption> <span class="caption">Valéry Giscard d'Estaing meeting with the then-US president, John F. Kennedy, in the White House in 1962.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meeting_with_Finance_Minister_of_France._Giscard_D%27Estaing,_President_Kennedy._White_House,_Oval_Office._-NARA-_194179.jpg">Abbie Rowe / US National Archives and Records Administration /</a></span> </figcaption> </figure>
<p>In the 1960s, France’s then-finance minister, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who later served as its president, railed against what he called the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/article/39/2/283/7113973">“exorbitant privilege”</a> the US gains from printing the world’s currency. The US will retain this privilege as long as global trade and finance are mostly conducted in US dollars.</p>
<p>This situation is <a href="https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/monochap/book/9781529249729/int001.xml">unlikely to change</a>. The EU’s efforts to unify its financial markets to support its single market <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/after-fracture-how-britains-financial-industry-recovered-brexit-2026-06-21/">have proceeded slowly</a> and were set back by Britain’s 2016 decision to leave the bloc. Britain and the EU have lost global financial marketshare since the UK broke away.</p>
<p>Attempts by China, Russia and major oil-exporting countries to launch an <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/russia-and-china-have-been-teaming-up-to-reduce-reliance-on-the-dollar-heres-how-its-going/">alternative reserve currency</a> have also made little progress. But they might not regret this. The dollar’s global role makes it harder for the US to control its inflation, as it has to watch the wider impact of raising interest rates. </p>
<p>When inflows of foreign capital strengthen the dollar, US industry also becomes less competitive on the global stage. And with so many governments worldwide under pressure to balance their budgets, America’s deep-pocketed consumers and businesses might still be the <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/the-us-economy-in-global-context">“engine of growth”</a> that enable other regions to expand.</p>
<p>Impressive economic performance between 2021 and 2024 did nothing to revive the political fortunes of Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden. Continuing the positive trend has <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-defies-forecasts-of-economic-slowdown-but-its-growth-isnt-making-ordinary-people-better-off-283989">proved similarly fruitless</a> for Trump. <a href="https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker">At only 36%</a>, his approval rating is extremely low.</p>
<p>This is the downside of growth driven by government deficits and <a href="https://www.mheducation.com/highered/blog/2025/05/corporate-profits-are-high-while-wages-are-near-lows.html">rising corporate profits</a>. Many Americans feel they are paying for higher prices out of wages that are rising only marginally, and will <a href="https://theconversation.com/energy-costs-are-high-and-unaffordable-what-utilities-governments-communities-and-you-can-do-to-help-save-consumers-money-283862">struggle to afford</a> any future rise in living costs.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/285979/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alan-shipman-111005">Alan Shipman</a>, Senior Lecturer in Economics, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-open-university-748">The Open University</a></em></span></p>
<p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-us-economy-stays-strong-even-when-its-policies-shock-the-rest-of-the-world-285979">original article</a>.</p> </div>