Earlier this Tuesday, a U.S. financial journalist asked President Donald Trump a question that has broadly worried Wall Street: “Are you concerned about the recent decline in the U.S. dollar?” Trump’s response surprised the market: he said no, he thought it was great, and that the dollar should be allowed to find its own level because that is “fair”—adding that if you look at China and Japan, they always want their currencies to depreciate. In market reporting, bullion rose as much as 1.3% on Wednesday after jumping 3.4% the day before (its biggest one-day gain since April), and Trump said he was not concerned about a weaker dollar even as the world’s premier reserve currency slid to its weakest level in nearly four years. This statement clearly reads as tacit approval—or even welcome—for

At this point, it finally feels possible to roughly tell what Trump is trying to do.He first took the extraordinary step of seizing Venezuela’s president, threw Venezuela into turmoil, and wrecked its economy. He then threatened to launch military strikes against Iran, and just the day before yesterday issued a security alert telling all U.S. citizens in Iran to leave immediately, building momentum as if a real military operation were about to begin. A simple tally of the countries Trump has threatened or actually acted against since the start of January 2026 is startling: in just half a month, the U.S. president has made threatening statements or taken coercive actions targeting 11 countries/regions.So what is he trying to do? The answer lies in the U.S. Dollar Index standing at the edge