The dollar is far from dead and the yuan is not staging a coup

Greenback doomsayers got it wrong. The dollar's reign is not over

- DANIEL MOSS

To say the roof hasn’t caved in on the dollar is an understatement. Despite the doomsaying that was pervasive after the White House imposed sweeping tariffs, the greenback is as entrenched in the cogs of global finance as ever. If anything, its use is more pervasive.

It would probably be too much to hope for some reflection on the part of the ‘sell America’ crowd that grabbed the microphone earlier this year.

But the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has spoken: The Basel-based organization’s triennial survey of the currency scene, the most comprehensive source on the size and structure of the market, shows that the dollar was on one side of 89.2% of all trades, up a touch from the 2022 result. The euro’s portion was down slightly at 28.9%, and the yen was little changed in third place, according to the BIS report.

Not bad, especially considering the poll was conducted in April, the same month that US President Donald Trump sought to upend the global trading system with steep levies on American imports. The big gyrations—the dollar fell sharply and yields on bonds climbed markedly—and the shock of the Liberation Day theatre led some investors to assert this was the beginning of the end for the dollar’s long reign. Time will tell, but there’s nothing in these numbers to suggest that any form of dethroning is imminent.