Post-US-China truce, wiser for Seoul, Tokyo to take the long road – Asia Times

The Donald Trump administration is pursuing a flurry of activities designed to convey the impression that a wave of trade deals is underway. The announcement of an agreement framework with the United Kingdom was followed by talks between Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and Chinese counterparts.

The United States and China agreed to a ninety-day pause in their tariff war, setting rates of 30 percent by the United States and 10 percent by China while negotiations take place. Talks of de-escalating the high-stakes trade war are clearly aimed at dampening the severe reactions of financial and stock markets.

South Korean officials have seized upon this activity as a sign that bilateral talks can yield positive results, particularly the removal of the 25 percent tariffs imposed on autos, steel, and electronics.

Han Duck-soo, the former prime minister who stepped down to pursue an independent bid for president, expressed hope that he could negotiate a “win-win” deal with President Trump.

“There is always some room for cooperation and good communication among policymakers of the United States and Korea. So I feel rather good about expecting some acceptable final results from that,” Han said at a meeting with foreign correspondents in Seoul on May 7. “We will do our best making win-win solutions.”

But there are grounds for deep skepticism about the prospects for success in these and other talks.

Economist and former New York Times columnist Paul Krugman dismisses reports of the US-UK deal and other deals as “smoke and mirrors, an attempt to persuade the gullible that Trump’s tariffs are actually working.” Krugman argues that these talks are “a response to a problem that didn’t exist” and that trade deficits do not reflect unfair foreign trade practices or high tariffs but rather the huge flows of capital into the United States, which reflect the perception of the United States as an attractive place to invest.

Japan’s experience of two rounds of negotiations with Bessent and other senior US officials is instructive. Japanese negotiators emerged from the talks mystified as to what the Trump administration actually wanted. The US side refused to discuss the biggest tariff rate – the 25 percent tax placed on autos, auto parts, steel, and aluminum – and insisted that these were global tariffs not subject to exemptions.

The Japanese government is in no rush to reach an agreement, although it does not want to be seen as backing away from talks. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba faces considerable criticism from the opposition for engaging in “tribute diplomacy.” With elections for Japan’s parliamentary upper house coming in July, the ruling party does not want to concede to what are seen as unreasonable demands from the United States.

“It’s not better just because it’s faster,” Ishiba told reporters following the bilateral talks. “For us, while properly asserting our national interests, it’s not good to reach an early conclusion by sacrificing such interests.”

South Korea faces many of the same circumstances. The first round of talks in Washington was similarly inconclusive, and the key issues for Seoul – tariffs on autos, auto parts, steel and aluminum – are also beyond discussion for now. This is unlikely to change even after a new presidential administration is voted into office on June 3.

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, commenting after the US-UK announcement, acknowledged this reality. “You’ve got to spend an enormous amount of time with Japan, South Korea,” he told reporters. “These are not going to be fast deals.”

Like Japan, South Korea’s strategy has been to seek concessions to induce the removal of the tariffs. Offers to cooperate on shipbuilding and energy production have been put on the table. But trade policy experts doubt those gestures will ultimately succeed.

“Many will still try to use this pause period to finalize something in exchange for a moderation to their initial tariff ‘sentence,’” says Michael Beeman, former assistant US trade representative for Japan, Korea and APEC in the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).

“There will be value in negotiating since, as I’ve been saying, the threats are a tactic in part — but not in whole. Because at the end of the day, he still wants a new, higher rate on the world,” Beeman, the author of Walking Out: America’s New Trade Policy in the Asia-Pacific and Beyond, told this writer.

The Japanese prime minister explicitly rejected a new, higher rate as a possible outcome. “We are seeking a complete elimination,” Ishiba said on Sunday. “It is not a matter of being satisfied with a certain percentage.”

When engaging the Trump administration, Korea and Japan need to “be patient” and take a longer view, Stanford University Professor Gi-Wook Shin told a recent seminar at Stanford’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.

Short-term efforts to appease the Trump administration are unavoidable, but they should be paired with efforts to bolster free trade outside. US discussions of reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO) offer one pathway, though admittedly a complex and drawn-out process. More likely are discussions to expand and strengthen existing regional trade regimes in the Indo-Pacific, including through partnerships with the European Union.

According to the Financial Times, plans to forge a strategic partnership between the European Union and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) have been revived in response to the trade wars unleashed by the Trump administration.

The CPTPP already brings together twelve nations, including Canada, Japan, Mexico, Vietnam, Australia, and the United Kingdom, and covers rules for investment, digital trade, and other goods trade. According to the report, support for linking the two arrangements has come from New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, and, quietly, Japan. The proposal could be discussed at the upcoming meeting of trade ministers at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) later this month in South Korea.

“Any efforts to strengthen and widen the CPTPP as a rules-based international trade system are useful,” says a former senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official who led the effort to embrace CPTPP without US participation during the first Trump administration. But the former official adds that he doubts the Ishiba government “has the guts” to do something similar.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a looser regional trade grouping with fifteen Asia-Pacific member countries — including China — could also gain a larger role. China has presented itself as a guardian of free trade against the Trump administration’s protectionism, reaching out to the European Union, South Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia as part of a charm offensive. Discussions of a free trade agreement between China, South Korea, and Japan were held recently, partly in response to Trump’s tariffs.

Chinese officials have also expressed an interest in joining the CPTPP. But there is considerable opposition to admitting China out of fear it would dilute the organization’s established standards, including clear restrictions on favoring state-owned enterprises.

“If you put China into the CPTPP, you basically blow it up,” Elizabeth Economy, a widely respected expert on China at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, told the Stanford seminar. “I don’t think the Japanese have any interest in bringing China into the CPTPP.”

South Korea’s participation in CPTPP faces much less opposition and could offer a means to balance the pressure from the Trump administration. The pathway to membership, however, will need to involve the strengthening of South Korea-Japan relations.

But the South Korean government may be reluctant to take that step, suggests Shin. “I don’t think Korea would be interested in joining a multilateral entity that didn’t include the US,” he said.

Such calculations in both Seoul and Tokyo could shift, however, if attempts to bargain with Washington falter and the global economy slips into a recession. In any case, it makes sense for South Korea to look beyond bargaining with Trump and join the construction of a free trade zone in the world economy.

Daniel C. Sneider is a non-resident distinguished fellow at the Korea Economic Institute of America and a lecturer in East Asian studies at Stanford University.

This article was originally published by KEI’s The Peninsula and is republished with permission.

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More turbulence lies ahead in the trade wars – Asia Times

Following discussions in Geneva, Switzerland, the United States and China have announced an essential deal to de-escalate diplomatic trade tensions. Here are the positive, negative, and unpleasant things:

The good news is that their most recent price increases may be reduced. China has reduced levies on US imports from 125 % to 10 %, while the US has reduced tariffs on Chinese imports from 145 % to 30 %. This significantly lessens significant bilateral trade conflicts, and it explains why economic industry rose.

The bad news is double. Second, the existing tariffs are also high by contemporary standards. On January 1, 2025, the average trade-weighted tariff rate in the US was 2.2 %, up from currently estimated 17.8 %. It is the highest price roof since the 1930s, that is.

Ultimately, it is very possible that a new standard has been established. Bilateral tariff-free business dates back to a bygone age.

Next, while negotiations are ongoing, these tax cuts will remain in effect for 90 days. A long list of challenging-to-resolve concerns will likely be present in discussions. China will put its hands up against a method of industrial subsidies and forex management policies dominated by state-owned enterprises. Beijing is also disable and move on and off the numerous non-tariff barriers like a faucet.

In a follow of the US-China “phase 1 offer” from Trump’s first president that was not implemented, China is offering to buy unknown amounts of US products. Trump ordered a review of the application of that deal on his first time in office in January, amid a storm of professional orders. According to the review, China failed to fulfill its commitments to protect intellectual property in the fields of agriculture, financing, and intellectual property.

It’s difficult to imagine the US being duped once more unless the US has then decided to succumb to Beijing’s punitive actions.

If these issues are not resolved, it would reveal the unpleasant truth that both nations continue to impose diplomatic export controls on goods deemed sensitive, such as processed crucial minerals from China to the US.

Additionally, the US is pressing its trading partners to cut some vulnerable China-sourced products from their export destined for US markets in its so-called “reciprocal” discussions with other nations. China has threatened to retaliate against trading partners who accept these needs and is greatly unsatisfied with them.

A momentary end to the conflict

Nevertheless, the announcement is best understood as a ceasefire that doesn’t alter the fundamental fundamental fact that the US and China are locked into a long-term period of escalating proper competition.

That period will have both ups and downs ( the price war that came before it ) thanks to both recent announcements. Both parties have agreed to declare victory and shift their attention to various issues at this point.

This means ensuring there will be customer items on the shelves in time for Halloween and Christmas, even at exorbitant prices, for the US. For China, it means restoring some exposure to the export market to relieve stress on its already fragile business.

The good long-term outcome of a frozen conflict is that neither side can defeat the other. This will be accentuated by attempts to “escalate dominance,” which will decide who emerges with better conditions. The ideas of observers on where the balance is right now are divergent.

In addition, it is said that “jaw-jaw is better than to war-war,” in accordance with a phrase frequently quoted by Winston Churchill. If you wear your seatbelts, there will be more turmoil to travel.

Where does this left the rest of us, exactly?

Notably, the US has not ( so far ) altered its fundamental objectives for all of its bilateral trade agreements.

Its top priority is to reduce the goods trade deficit by lowering exports and removing non-tariff restrictions, which it claims are “unfairly” preventing US exports. The US also wants to “derisk” some imports that it consider to be sympathetic for national safety reasons and remove the obstacles to online business and investments by tech giants.

These objectives are clearly reflected in the US and UK’s recent contract. The remaining taxes, which were imposed by the US on April 2, are higher nevertheless, at 10 %, despite the UK receiving some concessions. Additionally, the English may expand its market for some commodities while removing the origin of China from metal and pharmaceuticals destined for the US.

Little has changed for Washington’s Pacific security agreement allies, including Australia. Discussions with the Trump presidency are likely to be challenging, especially if the US decides to employ our safety concerns as leverage to force concessions in business. Progress should be carefully monitored in Japan, where it has now rejected the link between industry and security.

In order to avoid China tariffs, the US has recently stopped imposing higher tariffs on South-East Asian manufacturing countries, especially those that other countries use as export platforms. Vietnam, Cambodia, and other nations will continue to experience unpredictability and managing maneuvers. For them, the economical bets are higher.

They have long been trained in the gentle art of balancing the two giant, just like the Chinese. However, managing ties with Beijing and Washington may turn into the form of a higher-and-higher-wire rope performer.

The University of Adelaide’s Jean Monnet seat of commerce and culture is Peter Draper, a teacher and the senior director of the Institute for International Trade. The University of Adelaide’s Institute for International Trade is home to Nathan Howard Gray, a senior research fellow.

This content was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Learn the article’s introduction.

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Campaign to reduce Thai fruit glut

Encourages the public and private businesses to increase purchases and help farmers

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra meets with fruit traders at Government House on Tuesday. (Photo: Government House)
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra meets with grapes merchants at Government House. ( Photo: Government House )

The ministry of agriculture and commerce has been given the task of accelerating the transmission of a surplus of Thai seasonal fruits.

Indian fruit farmers facing a seasonal production abundance were given a thorough assistance program by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Tuesday.

She stated that the Ministry of Commerce may work with various government entities and private business partners to quickly sell domestically income berries and effectively boost export efforts.

” The state is fully aware of the challenges that exist in oversupply, especially with bananas, tangerines, rambutans, and durians,” she said.

Through four important stations, the program involves direct purchasing from farmers:

  • order with the intention of domestic distribution,
  • initiatives promoting corporate social responsibility ( CSR ),
  • order for consumption within organizations, and
  • sourcing by government departments like the Department of Corrections.

27 businesses have so far pledged to buy 103,760 tonnes of grapes. Leading organizations like Saha Pathanapibul and Thai Beverage, which have committed to purchase 55, 500 tonnes collectively, are among the main participants: the Thai Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Thai Industries, and the Thai Fresh Fruit Merchants and Manufacturers Association.

Retail stores are anticipated to make about 34, 450 kilograms, while gas stations, Thailand Post, Tao Bin vending machines, federal agencies, and associated foundations will make about 13, 810 tonnes.

Additionally, the state is launching new marketing channels, including e-commerce featuring well-known influencers, and special events like fruit-based recipe contests.

With a goal of 730 000 tonnes, these combined efforts aim to help offset over 346 500 tonnes of profit fruits.

According to Peeraphan Korthong, director-general of the Department of Agricultural Extension, the combined production of longan, peach, citrus, and fruit did accomplish 3.4 million tonnes this month, up 22 % from 2.78 million tonnes in 2024.

Export goal of$ 8.8 billion

The government intends to export 4.13 million tonnes of fruit, which will bring in an estimated$ 8.8 billion ( 28 billion baht ) in revenue.

In an effort to speed up Good Agricultural Practice ( GAP ) certifications, efforts are being made to ensure export quality and build buyer confidence. Additionally, the state established a” Set Zero” center for quality control and a devoted war place to manage exports.

According to Ms. Paetongtarn, a unique dialogue staff has been dispatched to key markets, particularly China, where it has been since May 10 when the country’s customs administration has eased inspection restrictions for Thai durians.

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Why Trump’s China trade war retreat may be fleeting – Asia Times

The day of Donald Trump’s independence in Tokyo seems like it was a long time ago. In its place comes Capitulation Day, as the self-proclaimed” Tax Man” caved in to China’s Xi Jinping faster than even the expenditure bull had hoped.

Blinked. sprained. Retreated. Quit. Swerved. Blanched. Forgotten. remained. All are thoughts America’s most feudal president in 125 times hates now that they’re being used to describe how China outmaneuvered his White House with the tax peace announced Monday in Geneva.

Trump and his aides are pretending to be trying to portray this as anything other than a fatal climbdown. However, as Trump’s 145 % tariffs are reduced to 30 % for at least 90 days, there is no way to disguise the popping of champagne corks in Beijing today.

But the odds of this financial truce having are also lower than Trump’s flagging authorization rating. Although there are many causes for this, the three most important are listed below.

One, the stories about Trump yelling in the face of falling areas are certain to force him back into the fray. If there’s anything that animates the art-of-the-deal leader, it’s being perceived&nbsp, as&nbsp, the “loser” in any dialogue.

Trump will undoubtedly be enraged by his remarks about his up-front and Xi’s masterful long game, which include giving him much in return for the delay beyond the new 125 % taxes.

News analysis reports on how Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and various Asian countries may defeat Trump in the same way Team Xi did.

This” total reset”, as the White House calls it, is by far” Trump ‘s&nbsp, biggest climbdown to date”, says Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer. Beijing has only” properly called Trump’s bluff,” according to Mark Williams, an analyst at Capital Economics.

Trump’s return to the battlefield of trade war is not certain. But the odds that he just sits up and lets a degrading news cycle play out in real time don’t look great. The volatile 78-year-old from Queens has rarely, if ever, displayed before, but it would require a degree of elegance and self-control.

However, Trump’s military retreat in the hottest trade-war conflict sends a message to another world leaders who dread their Oval Office visits: plunging markets may change Trump’s mind in a blink.

Events in Geneva are a” indication that the US is more determined than China to provide the’ de-escalation’ information to the market”, analysts at Jeffries, an investment bank, read.

Two, it is unlikely that China will lose the compromises Trump believes he deserves.

Of course, the difficult part is today. Trump is sure to notice his share selloff to a 30 % tax from 145 % as a surprise to Xi, deserving of some major cooperation.

Team Xi may probably have a very different point of view. Trump looked into the economical abyss and witnessed angry Wall Street titan glaring up at him from Beijing’s point of view.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who runs the world’s biggest banks by industry capitalization, spoke for The Street when he complained Trump’s tariffs were” too big, too large and very aggressive” — even if one thinks it’s wise to play hardball with foes and allies everywhere.

Retailers ‘ extremely ominous warnings about empty shelves and images of stale container ships crowded the coasts of Seattle, Los Angeles, and Baltimore finally came to an end.

The so-called “bond vigilantes” made headlines about many trillions of dollars in stock market losses, as well as speculation that Trump would experience a” Trumpcession.” This gave the White House a clear choice in terms of who his boss was and left him with much choice.

The exact went for China’s position going into the trip trade talks in Geneva. Team Xi demanded a kindness movement regarding taxes, and Trump complied in the end.

The phraseological dramatic excursion says it all. Around Liberation Day, Trump World argued the US is being “looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by governments near and way”. The topic of discussion is today” the value of a long-term, socially beneficial economic and trade relationship.”

Observers are free to interpret this as a split-screen second. What it really is, though, is the financial equivalent of a procedure. This is not a de-escalation; rather, it is an alternate academic world. &nbsp,

But by now, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer know full well that China is feeling emboldened, no cowed, by the last two months. Xi’s people are demanding that Trump’s are seen as Team Trump requests a compromises listing from China.

This won’t be properly received in Trump World. But finally, Trump’s quite determined business “deal” in name only with the UK set quite a law.

Given that the UK and the US trade deficit, it’s unclear why a US chief may engage in political labor negotiations with Keir Starmer‘s authorities. The answer is a burning desire for a frightened gain, if there ever was one.

How’s how University of Michigan analyst Justin&nbsp, Wolfers amounts of Trump’s business “deal” with London:” Laser focused on reducing rates for regular Americans from Day One, the senator has struck a deal that will lower the price of Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, Jaguars, Aston Martins, Range Rovers, and Minis. No other consumer goods were given carve-outs.

Three, Trump’s 40-plus-year belief that tariffs will magically restore America.

Trump’s most consistent economic view — one might say the only consistent view— through the decades is that Asia is exploiting the US and only import taxes can save the day.

Who else in the public would refer to tariffs as “beautiful” and claim that they will” supercharge” the US economy when everyone else is aware that they are inherently stagflationary?

Trump also doesn’t seem to understand that customers and retailers pay these taxes, not the nation that ships goods to Walmart, Target, and Amazon. He also believes, wrongly, that tariff “revenues” can replace income taxes in an economy carrying a US$ 36 trillion-plus national debt.

No one can currently respond to the where-to-now query. Investors can project their best-case/worst-case scenarios onto the white canvas of Trump’s 90-day pause in his 145 % tariff.

” If the US can get the Chinese to commit to meaningful trade rebalancing within 90 days, it would be historic”, says Jamie Cox, managing partner of the Harris Financial Group. There is still a very steep hill to climb to get a real agreement because the Chinese are quite adept at stalling.

Team Xi might take former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s example in this regard. In 2018 and 2019, the late Abe managed to slow-walk negotiations with the Trump 1.0 White House.

Abe cozied up to Trump like no other democratic leader at the time. He even nominated Trump for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, received expensive presents, including a$ 3,800 golf club, and flattered him ad nauseam.

It didn’t win Japan a perfect return. Trump left the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was at the heart of Tokyo’s effort to contain China economically, despite Abe’s pleas.

Additionally, Trump 1.0 did not waive the steel and aluminum taxes on “friend” and Abe&nbsp. And Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party was none too happy that Trump’s weird flirtation with North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un came at the expense of Japan’s national security.

Abe managed to drag out the clock for so long, so a desperate Trump consented to a bilateral agreement that had no impact on US-Japan trade dynamics. Abe even persuaded Trump to remove all autos from the table.

As Jeffrey&nbsp, Schott, economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, notes, the pact “did little more than partly restoring the benefits that Trump recklessly threw away when he pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership”.

Without a doubt, Team Xi is busy planning their own Abe-like dodge, minus the aggressive flattery. Xi’s Communist Party, of course, does not have to contest mid-term elections 18 months from now. And Xi is aware of it.

Therefore, Beijing isn’t in a rush to sign a” Phase Two” trade agreement, with a US leader almost certain to demand a” Phase Three” round of negotiations in the coming year.

At the same time, US officials are learning the hard way that Trump’s chaotic Phase One process prompted China to pivot to other markets.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN), which is China’s top trading partner, is now followed by the European Union.

Additionally, China is actively increasing its market share among the BRICS, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and the Global South. Xi’s” Made in China 2025″ strategy has been quietly making the nation more self-sufficient.

In a recent Foreign Affairs article, economists Brendan Kelly and Michael Hirson wrote that “de-risking is frequently described as a Western goal.”

” China has, however, intentionally pursued this approach for more than ten years. A central focus of the Made in China 2025 initiative, which Beijing launched in 2015, was to reduce China’s reliance on foreign products. And to make China a leader in the fields of semiconductors, batteries, biotechnology, aerospace, and artificial intelligence.

However, Kelly and Hirson also doubt that China and the Trump administration will ever form a productive partnership.

” Genuinely delivering on the terms of an ambitious deal would require enormous political commitment from both capitals to overcome the logic of de-risking”, Kelly and Hirson write.

Bottom line:” No significant de-risking reconsideration is likely to occur in the next four years, no matter how much Xi or Trump says he wants a deal.”

Trump refutes this assertion, and he does so severely. But the ways in which Xi has Trump’s number and this White House is boxed in by financial markets that are calling the shots, it’s hard to believe that the tariff truce agreed in Geneva can hold for very long.

Follow William Pesek on X using the hashtag# WilliamPesek

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Gold is booming – but how safe is it for investors, really?

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Theo Leggett profile image
Theo Leggett

International business editor

BBC A treated image which shows rectangular pieces with the words "fine gold 999.9" written on them. One is illuminated in the colour gold while the rest are in black and white treatmentBBC

Talk to Theo read this article

Emma Siebenborn tells me that the amount of gold you have is about £250, 000 fair of. She shows me a plastic tub full of worn-out bracelets, charm bracelets, earrings, and orphaned pearls.

Emma is the strategies director of Hatton Garden Metals, a family-run silver shop in London’s Hatton Garden jewels area, and this unprepossessing bucket of bric-a-brac is a small example of what they buy over the counter each time. It is actually metal piece that will be melted down and recycled.

Also on the table, somewhat more beautifully presented in a suede-lined box, is a selection of silver coins and cafes. The largest club measures about the width and length of a cellular telephone. It weighs a big 1kg, and it’s worthwhile about £80, 000.

The cash come in the shape of biscuit-sized Britannias, which each contain one iota of 24 carat silver, as well as smaller Monarchs. These are all available to buy- and the subsequent surge in golden rates has led to a surge in demand.

Zoe Lyons, the managing director and Emma’s girl, has never seen anything like it; she frequently spots would-be dealers waiting in the street. ” There’s excitement and sensation in the market but also awkwardness and trepidation”, she tells me.

There is concern about the direction the market will take next, and when you experience those feelings, it eventually leads to some pretty significant deals.

At MNR jewellery a couple of streets apart, a seller agrees:” Need for silver has increased, definitely”, he says.

A line chart showing the price of gold in US dollars per ounce, adjusted for inflation to 2025 prices. The figure was $296 in early 1970, and rose to a peak of $2,684 in January 1980, partly driven by rising global oil prices. It then gradually fell back to just below $500 by the early 2000s, before rising again £2,577 in August 2011 in the wake of the global financial crisis. It then fell again, before reaching a new record of $3,124 in late March 2025, partly in response to global economic uncertainty caused by US president Donald Trump's imposition of tariffs.

Platinum is undoubtedly on a roll. Its price has increased by more than 40 % over the past year. It increased above$ 3,500 ( £2, 630 ) per troy ounce ( a measurement for precious metals ) in late April. This marked an all-time history, even allowing for prices, exceeding the previous peak reached in January 1980. In modern dollars, the money value was$ 850, or$ 3 493.

Academics have attributed this to a variety of elements. The Trump administration’s sudden changes in US trade policy, among them, have had a major impact on the industry. Silver, by contrast, is seen by many as a good investment. Its beauty has only grown more appealing as a result of worries about political uncertainty. Many owners have come to understand the comparative security offered by a resource when dismissed by the businessman Warren Buffett as “lifeless” and “neither of much use nor procreative”.

According to Louise Street, mature markets scientist at the World Gold Council, a trade body funded by the mining sector, “it’s the kind of problems that we view as a bit of a great surprise for golden.”

” It’s the focus on potential inflationary pressures. You’ve seen the IMF]International Monetary Fund ] downgrade economic projections very late, and recessionary threats are rising.

But what goes up can even come along. Although platinum is known to be a secure property, it is not impervious to price swings. In truth, in the past, big storms in the price have been followed by significant fall.

What is the chance that this could occur again, leaving some of today’s eager investors suffering significant loss?

What actually triggered the goldrush

Since ancient times, silver has been regarded as a store of intrinsic value, helped by its comparative rarity. The world provide is limited. The World Gold Council estimates that only about 216, 265 kilos have ever been mined ( the total is now increasing by about 3, 500 tonnes per month ). This means that it is widely perceived as a” safe have n” asset that will retain its value.

However, it has both advantages and drawbacks as an expense.

Unlike stock, it will never give a dividend. It won’t offer a stable, predictable income, unlike ties, and its applications in industry are comparatively limited.

Getty Images A Hatton Garden street sign in the London Brough of Camden.Getty Images

The issue is that it is a natural solution that can be obtained outside of the banking system, which is a draw. It is also used as an insurance policy against prices: while economies tend to lose value over time, golden does no.

Russ Mould, purchase director at trader AJ Bell, says “gold doesn’t get printed by main businesses, and it can’t be conjured out of thin air.” ” In recent times, a great plan response from authorities when there’s been a crisis has been: slice interest rates, increase income source, quantitative easing, printing money. From that, and as a result, as a store of value, silver is seen as a shelter.

There has just been a substantial rise in demand for silver from so-called Exchange Traded Funds, purchase vehicles that hold an asset such as silver themselves, while investors may buy and sell shares in the account.

They are well-known with large institutional investors, and their actions have pushed the price higher.

When gold hit its previous record in January 1980, the Soviet Union had just invaded Afghanistan. Oil prices were rising, causing inflation in developed nations, and investors were attempting to safeguard their wealth. The price also rose sharply in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, leading to another peak in 2011.

The way markets have responded to the confusion triggered by the Trump administration appears to be a significant contributor to the recent increases.

AFP/Getty Images US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at a press conference in Washington DC on 18 December 2024.AFP/Getty Images

The most recent uptick was caused by US President Donald Trump’s online attack on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Calling for immediate interest rate cuts, he described Mr Powell as a “major loser” for failing to reduce the cost of borrowing quickly enough.

Some people saw his comments as an attack on the US central bank’s independence. Share markets fell, as did the value of the dollar compared to other major currencies– and gold hit its most recent record.

However, the recent strength of gold is not entirely attributable to the Trump factor.

Fears of weaponisation of the dollar system

Since late 2022, the price has been on a steep upward trend, at least in part due to central banks, according to Louise Street. “]They ] have been net buyers of gold, to add to their official reserves, for the past 15 years”, she explains. However, we observed a real acceleration over the past three years.

Central banks have collectively bought more than 1, 000 tonnes of gold each year since 2022, up from an average of 481 tonnes a year between 2010 and 2021. Last year, Poland, Turkey, India, Azerbaijan, and China were just a few of the top buyers.

Analysts say central banks may themselves have been trying to build up buffers at a time of growing economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

Getty Images A gold chain on countertop in a jeweller in Hatton Gardens on 16 April 2025 in London.Getty Images

In 2022, the reserves of the Russian Central Bank frozen in response to the invasion of Ukraine, and reserve managers of global central banks around the world realized,” Maybe my reserves aren’t safe either, what if I buy gold and hold it in my own vaults?” asks Daan Struyven, co-head of global commodities research at Goldman Sachs.

” And so we have seen this big structural fivefold increase in demand for gold from central banks”.

In addition, Simon French, chief economist and head of research at the investment firm Panmure Liberum, believes that central banks ‘ independence from dollar-based banking systems has been a significant driver. I would look at China, but also Russia, their central bank is a big buyer of gold, also Turkey.

Getty Images A black sign shows the words "cash for gold" in the Hatton Garden area of London.Getty Images

He claims that” a number of nations fear the use of the dollar and, potentially, the Euro system.”

” If they are not aligning themselves with the US or the Western view, on diplomatic grounds, on military grounds … having an asset in their central bank that is not controlled by their military or political foes is quite an attractive feature”.

FOMO, or fear of missing out, may be another factor that may be contributing to the gold market’s upwards. With new all-time records being set, it has filtered through into everyday conversation in some quarters.

This is, in Zoe Lyons ‘ opinion, true in Hatton Garden. ” ]People ] want a piece of the golden pie”, she says,” and they’re willing to do that through buying physical gold”.

Safe, but how long will it last?

The big question, though, is what happens next. Some experts predict that the upward trend will continue as a result of central bank buying, inflationary pressures, and unpredictable US policy. Indeed Goldman Sachs has forecast gold will reach$ 3, 700/oz ( £2, 800/oz ) by the end of 2025 and$ 4, 000 ( £3, 000 ) by mid 2026.

However, it adds that, in the event of a US recession or an escalation of the trade war, it might even reach$ 4,500 ( £3,400 ) later this year.

” The US stock market is 200 times bigger than the gold market, so even a small move out of the big stock market or the big bond market would mean a big percent increase in the much smaller gold market”, explains Daan Struyven.

In other words, a lot of turbulence in major investment markets wouldn’t be enough to propel gold upward.

Yet others are concerned that the price of gold has risen so far, so fast that a market bubble is forming – and bubbles can burst.

AFP via Getty Images Nine pieces of gold are placed out in Sydney, Australia, on 29 April 2025.AFP via Getty Images

Back in 1980, for example, the dramatic spike in the gold price was followed by an equally remarkable correction, dropping from$ 850 ( £640 ) in late January to just$ 485 ( £365 ) in early April. It was only$ 297 ( £224 ) in mid-June the following year, a 65 % decrease from its peak.

The peak in 2011, meanwhile, was followed by a sharp dip, then a period of volatility. It had dropped by 18 % within four months. After plateauing for a while, it continued to fall, reaching a low point in mid-2013 that was 35 % down from its highest.

Is it still possible that something similar will occur now?

Could the bubble burst?

Some analysts do believe that prices will ultimately drop significantly. Jon Mills, an industry expert at Morningstar, made headlines in March when he suggested the cost of an ounce of gold could drop to just$ 1, 820 over the next few years.

His theory was that the supply would increase as mining companies increased their production and more recycled gold entered the market. At the same time central banks would ease off their buying spree, while other short-term pressures stimulating demand would subside, bringing prices down.

Since then, those forecasts have been slightly revised, largely due to rising mining costs.

Bloomberg via Getty Images US President Donald Trump displays a signed executive order during a tariff announcement in the Rose Garden of the White House on 2 April 2025. Bloomberg via Getty Images

Daan Stryven disagrees. He believes there could be a short-term dip, but prices will generally continue to rise. I believe hedge funds would be willing to take some of their money out of gold and invest it in risky assets, like the stock market, if there were to be a peace deal with Ukraine or a de-escalation of trade.

” So you could see temporary dips. However, we have a lot of faith that in this ambiguous geopolitical setup, where central banks want safer reserve holdings, they will continue to encourage demand over the medium term.

Russ Mould believes there will, at the very least, be a lull in the upwards trend”. It would be reasonable to anticipate that it will take a breather at some point given its stunning run, he says.

But he believes that if there is a sharp economic slowdown and interest rates are slashed, the gold price could go higher in the long run.

More from InDepth

One problem for investors is working out whether the recent record price for gold was simply a staging point in a continued upward climb – to more than$ 4, 000 for example– or the peak.

According to Simon French of Panmure Liberum, the peak may be very close, and those who start trading now in the hopes of making a lot of money are likely to be disappointed. Others have warned that those recently lured into buying gold by hype and headlines could lose out if the market goes into reverse.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, has said that” short-term speculating can backfire, even though there will be temptation hang on to the coat-tails of the record run upwards.”

” Investors considering investing in gold should do so as part of a diversified portfolio – they shouldn’t put all their eggs in a golden basket.”

Getty Images is the source of the image’s top photo.

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Time to develop US industrial strategy – which requires allies – Asia Times

This article was originally published by Pacific Forum. It is republished with permission.

The 21st century global economy is increasingly shaped by two defining pillars of national power: financial dominance and industrial capacity.

On the one hand, the United States maintains an enduring edge in global finance, with the US dollar still entrenched as the world’s reserve currency and American capital markets unrivaled in scale and liquidity. On the other, China has emerged as the world’s manufacturing powerhouse, anchoring global supply chains and asserting influence through its industrial footprint.

As economic competition intensifies between Washington and Beijing, the US must recognize that preserving its strategic edge requires more than just financial leverage. It demands an ambitious and coherent industrial strategy.

In recent years, US policymakers have responded to China’s industrial rise with a series of reactive measures: tariffs, export controls and investment restrictions. While these tools may address short-term imbalances or national security risks, they do little to resolve the foundational challenges eroding America’s manufacturing base.

Without tackling these core issues – a shrinking skilled workforce, outdated infrastructure, and brittle supply chains – America’s efforts to restore production and reduce dependency on China will falter.

Moreover, these temporary policy instruments signal inconsistency. From Beijing’s perspective, a coherent and sustained US industrial strategy poses a greater long-term challenge than ad hoc trade barriers.

China has long anticipated an American pivot toward rebuilding domestic capabilities, which is why it has redoubled efforts to internationalize the renminbi (RMB) and invest in technology self-sufficiency through programs like “Made in China 2025” and the dual circulation strategy.

The landscape of high-tech manufacturing illustrates the complexity of this rivalry. Taiwanese-owned factories play an outsized role in this arena, particularly in sectors such as semiconductors and electronics.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), for example, produces over 90% of the world’s most advanced chips and has long operated major fabrication plants in mainland China. However, geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions have spurred a geographic recalibration. In March, TSMC announced it intended to boost its US investments to $165 billion.

Similarly, other Taiwanese firms like Foxconn have begun diversifying away from the mainland China, exploring sites in Southeast Asia and North America.

This migration is driven not only by strategic hedging, but by rising concerns over operational risk. Beijing’s increasingly assertive stance toward Taiwan – underscored by military drills, trade coercion and political pressure – has fueled public resentment in Taiwan and hardened resolve there to chart an independent economic path.

For Taiwanese firms, this volatile political environment adds yet another layer of complexity to already fraught supply chain decisions. It also sharpens the urgency for Washington to work more closely with Taipei and other democratic partners to ensure the stability and resilience of high-tech industries.

These shifts also carry implications for US industrial policy. Facilitating the relocation and expansion of trusted foreign manufacturers requires proactive support – from tax incentives and streamlined permitting to workforce training and secure energy supplies.

If the US succeeds in anchoring key players like TSMC and Foxconn within its industrial ecosystem, it will not only reduce strategic vulnerabilities but also catalyze domestic innovation and regional development.

Regional engagement and tailored strategies

In Arizona, for instance, state-level coordination with federal programs has been critical in advancing TSMC’s investments. Similar efforts are underway in Ohio, New York, and Texas to attract semiconductor and battery manufacturers.

Local governments must be empowered with tools like workforce development grants and infrastructure bonds to prepare regions for high-tech industries. Regional partnerships with universities and technical colleges should also be expanded to create talent pipelines aligned with industry needs.

Internationally, the US should deepen industrial cooperation with regional allies.

  • In East Asia, trilateral dialogues with Japan and South Korea can align standards and incentives for semiconductor resilience.
  • In Southeast Asia, American firms can partner with Taiwanese manufacturers relocating to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand – offering technical assistance and financing to build regional clusters of excellence.
  • Mexico, as part of the USMCA framework, offers proximity and preferential trade treatment that could be leveraged to expand nearshoring strategies.

Additional policy recommendations include:

  • Create a national industrial council: Modeled after the National Security Council, this body would coordinate policy across federal agencies and align public and private investment in strategic sectors.
  • Establish a regional resilience fund: This fund would offer matching grants to states and municipalities that successfully attract and retain high-tech manufacturers and build ecosystem infrastructure.
  • Leverage Export-Import Bank of the United States and United States International Development Finance Corporation: These institutions can support overseas projects that reduce dependence on Chinese supply chains and promote reshoring through financing, insurance, and political risk coverage.
  • Standardize permitting and tax incentives: A national framework for permitting and incentives would reduce red tape and create predictability for foreign and domestic investors alike.
  • Codify a Taiwan-US industrial compact: A bilateral framework to protect and promote Taiwanese investment in the US, facilitate joint R&D, and coordinate supply chain planning could be a diplomatic and economic win-win.

For Washington, a credible industrial strategy must begin with a clear sense of national purpose: not simply to compete with China, but to rebuild a resilient, inclusive, and future-ready economy. The goal is not isolationism but strategic interdependence – reducing vulnerability while fostering trusted economic ties with allies and partners.

To do this, the United States must make sustained investments in three critical areas:

  1. Workforce development: The erosion of America’s industrial workforce is a long-term challenge with deep roots. Addressing it requires a generational investment in vocational training, apprenticeship programs, and STEM education. Policymakers must work with industry and labor to create pathways into advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and semiconductor production – sectors that are both strategically vital and poised for growth.
  2. Infrastructure modernization: Manufacturing competitiveness depends on the efficiency of logistics, power and digital infrastructure. The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was a step in the right direction, but follow-through is essential. Industrial hubs need 21st-century ports, smart grids and broadband access to compete globally. Without modern infrastructure, the productivity gains from reshoring will remain limited.
  3. Supply chain resilience: The pandemic exposed how dangerously fragile many global supply chains have become. The US must incentivize domestic production of critical inputs like rare earth elements, batteries, and pharmaceuticals. But it must also build redundancy and flexibility into its supply networks by fostering regional production alliances with trusted partners such as Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and members of the EU.

Policy must be coupled with strategy. This includes:

  • Identifying strategic sectors that merit targeted support—including semiconductors, green technologies, AI, and advanced robotics.
  • Using public-private partnerships to accelerate innovation and commercialization.
  • Ensuring consistent regulatory frameworks that promote competitiveness while upholding labor and environmental standards.

Importantly, the US does not need to emulate China’s model of state-led capitalism. American strengths lie in decentralized innovation, private sector dynamism and democratic accountability. But the government must set the direction and provide the stability needed for industrial renewal to take root.

Global allies are watching. Many share America’s concerns about economic overdependence on China. A credible US industrial strategy could serve as the foundation for a broader coalition to promote economic security and democratic resilience.

Ultimately, America’s long-term economic influence will rest not on the power of the dollar alone, but on its ability to produce, innovate and lead by example. The world is entering an era in which economic power will increasingly shape geopolitical outcomes. If the US seeks to preserve its leadership in this new era, then rebuilding its industrial base must be treated not as an option, but as a strategic imperative.

This does not require the US to mimic China’s model of state-driven capitalism, but it does require clear direction and sustained investment. Otherwise, America risks remaining reliant on foreign supply chains and vulnerable to external shocks – as was made evident during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The goal should not be isolationism, but strategic interdependence: building domestic strength while engaging with allies to construct a more resilient and balanced global economic order. Only with such a vision can the US maintain its influence in a world where economic power increasingly shapes geopolitical realities.

Yujing Shentu PhD ([email protected]) is an independent scholar and writer focused on digital politics, international political economy and US-China strategic competition. She has a background in policy analysis and economic strategy.

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In case a future Fed withholds needed bailout: a dollar coalition – Asia Times

In the event of dysfunction in dollar funding markets, the Federal Reserve can supply liquidity through standing central bank swaps. This column considers a scenario in which the Fed declines to extend such credit. It argues that 14 major central banks hold roughly $1.9 trillion in US safe assets. They could form a dollar coalition of the willing by pooling their dollar holdings and swapping them when needed. An inferior international lender of last resort beats no international lender of last resort.

On 16 April 2025, Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell (2025) assured Professor Raghu Rajan that the Fed stands ready to supply dollar liquidity through standing central bank swaps. 1  When needed, the Fed can lead international last resort lending of dollars by extending hundreds of billions of its credit to partner central banks that in turn lend to their banks against collateral. Powell stressed that in doing so, the Fed ensures the transmission of its own policy when global dollar funding markets dry up. He cited the example of a foreign bank funding a security backed by US household debts (Reis and Bahaj 2018).

In 2008 and 2020, the amounts that the Fed swapped were not small, but offshore dollar funding – both on- and off-balance-sheet – is measured in the tens of trillions of dollars. Thus, with pennies on the dollar lent and repaid with interest, the Fed and co-operating central banks calmed dollar panics.

In the light of events in early 2025, this column considers the unlikely possibility that the Fed does not take the lead in international dollar lending of last resort in the event of dysfunction in dollar funding markets. What if some future Fed leadership were to decline to extend its credit through central bank swaps, taking the view that they “just hate bailing out Europe again,” in the unguarded phrase of the US Vice President (Goldberg 2025)? Or to condition swaps on bilateral political considerations?

US Vice President JD Vance (center), discussing Trump administration plans to bomb Houthi rebels, said he disliked “bailing Europe out again.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (left) responded, “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s pathetic.” They assumed the world wasn’t listening but they were on a Signal chat and a magazine editor had been invited by mistake. (This picture shows an earlier public ceremony, in which Vance swore in Hegseth.) Photo: Wikipedia

This scenario is worth exploring even if one deems it very unlikely. A new Fed Board leadership would have to persuade the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to reverse the policy just affirmed by Chair Powell. By law, the FOMC controls Fed open market operations, including the central bank swaps. 2

A glance at the recent additions to the current FOMC lineup suggests that it would not readily agree to withhold standing central bank swaps for political reasons. On 21 April, the New York Fed appointed European Central Bank (ECB) operations veteran Anna Nordstrom to head its markets group, managing the FOMC’s $6.3 trillion System Open Market Account. Her crisis-tested predecessor, Lorie Logan, has headed the Dallas Fed since 2022. 3 Last year, another New York Fed veteran, Alberto Musalem, and a former Goldman Sachs global treasurer, Beth Hammack, became the heads of the St Louis and Cleveland Feds, respectively. By the wisdom of the Congressional framers of the Federal Reserve Act, none is a presidential appointee. 4

That said, after trans-Atlantic differences surfaced over NATO, Ukraine and trade in March 2025 5 but even before the so-called reciprocal tariff announcement in early April, the reliability of the Fed as a source of dollar swaps came into question (Smart 2025). On March 20, a think tank report to the European Parliament considered a scenario of politicized “recourse to the dollar swap lines” (Tudoir et al. 2025). More telling was a Reuters story on the same day, widely sourced by a large team of writers, that reported that European central bankers were discussing how to make do without the Fed swaps. 6 Citing the Reuters story, Deutsche Bank’s foreign exchange strategist George Saravelos (2025) called this a “nuclear button.” 7

This scenario takes us to the Kindleberger Trap, the risk that a fading world power lacks the ability, but the ascendant power lacks the will, to provide the world with vital public goods — such as stable international money. In 1931, the Bank of England (BoE) was not able, but the Fed was not willing, to serve as lender of last resort to Austria. As a result, the crisis rolled on to Germany, Britain and ultimately the US. The Kindleberger Trap caught the “world in depression,” as Charles Kindleberger (1973) titled his seminal work. 8 Nowadays, it is not, as Joseph Nye (2017) imagined, that the Fed is unable to play lender of last resort and the People’s Bank of China is unwilling.

Instead, the hazard to the world economy now is that:

  • 1. The Fed is able to lead a dollar lender of last resort operation, but
  • 2. A future Fed may not be willing to do so, and
  • 3. No one else is able to do so.

This column proposes a work-around:

  • 4. A coalition of central banks can pool dollars to lend as a last resort.

Central banks without access to the Fed could form a dollar coalition of the willing.9 The 14 central banks that had standing and temporary Fed swap lines in 2008 and 2020 span dollar funding markets to a remarkable extent, which is not generally recognized (Ito et al. 2021). Among them they cover about three-fourths of offshore dollar liabilities of non-US headquartered banks and about five-sixths of global turnover against the dollar in the foreign exchange swap market (Figures 1 and 2 from McCauley 2024).

Figure 1 Dollar liabilities of banks headquartered outside the US

Figure 1 Dollar liabilities of banks headquartered outside the US
Figure 1 Dollar liabilities of banks headquartered outside the US
Note: 1 Cross-border and local liabilities in all instruments vis-à-vis all counterparty countries. Excludes intragroup positions but includes liabilities to other (unaffiliated) banks. From end-2015, includes positions reported by China and Russia (the latter up to end-2021).
Sources: BIS consolidated banking statistics; BIS locational banking statistics; author’s calculations.

Figure 2 Coverage of dollar foreign exchange swap turnover by Fed central bank swaps in 2007-2022

Figure 2 Coverage of dollar foreign exchange swap turnover by Fed central bank swaps in 2007-2022
Figure 2 Coverage of dollar foreign exchange swap turnover by Fed central bank swaps in 2007-2022
Note: Big 5: European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, Bank of England, Bank of Canada, and Swiss National Bank, advanced economy (AE) 5: Reserve Bank of Australia, Riksbank, Norges Bank, Danmarks Nationalbank, Reserve Bank of New Zealand; emerging market (EM) 4: Monetary Authority of Singapore, Banco de Mexico, Bank of Korea, and Central Bank of Brazil.
Source: BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey of foreign exchange of 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022, author’s estimates for Danish krone, author’s calculations.

A key fact is their collective firepower: The 14 central banks hold lots of dollars. Their collective holdings of US safe assets amounted to an estimated $1.9 trillion at the end of 2021. 10 The 14 central banks cannot, like the Fed, create dollars without limit, but they could pool their holdings and swap them when needed.

There is ample precedent for central banks to lend each other international money that is not of their own creation. In the 19th century, precious metal loans did not lack a geopolitical dimension but could not be unlimited.

A legendary story tells how the Silver Train (Silberzug) chugged from Vienna to Hamburg in 1857. Agreeing to a call for help on 8 December, the Bank of Austria loaded a train with almost ten million ounces of silver. 11   It arrived on 12 December “in highly visible fashion” (Deutsche Boerse 2025, Roberds and Velde 2014, p 45) in time to prevent the impending failure of most of Hamburg’s banks and to allow ship captains to unload their cargoes with some hope of getting paid (Aliber et al. 2023, pp 294-295). The Bank of Prussia evidently regretted having joined London and Paris in turning Hamburg down, before Vienna said yes – and having thus “missed an opportunity.” 12  

During the 1890 Baring Crisis, it took the Banque de France about a day to send 707,547 ounces of gold, worth £3 million, from Paris to London by wagon, train, and ship. 13 The crates of gold “supposedly” recrossed the channel unopened (Flandreau 1997) 14 but, in any case, signaled that sterling was as good as gold. The BoE Governor “and the City were uneasy about asking the French and the Russians for help…. Suppose for some political-financial reason they had been unwilling to oblige?” 15 These metallic last resort loans calmed panics even though neither drew on alchemy to extend unlimited support.

In the modern era, central bank mutual support has mixed money creation and dollar reserve use in varying proportions. In the record-breaking $3 billion support for the Bank of England in November 1964, the US, German, French and Swiss central banks pledged 59% in their own currencies and the other G-10 members and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) pledged 41% in dollars (Schenk 2010, p 276). The June 1976 record-breaking $5.3 billion credit to the Bank of England reversed the proportions, as apparently only the Fed pledged its own currency for 38% and the other G10 members and the BIS stumped up dollars for their 62% share. 16  

Thus, in an historical perspective, the 2008 pattern of the Fed, the ECB and the Swiss National Bank (SNB), each swapping its own currency, stands out as an exception. Much of last resort lending by central banks to each other has involved lending their own reserves rather than freshly created money.

With this perspective, the $1.9 trillion possible pool is big money. It’s triple the previous maximum drawing on the Fed swap lines in 2008 ($598 billion) and quadruple the peak 2020 usage ($449 billion) (Choi et al. 2022). The coalition would signal an independent judgement of the nature of the crisis, backed by money, like a Fed swap, as opposed to each central bank in need drawing only on its own resources. And if the Fed could trust the 14 central banks, how could they not trust each other?

Where the pool could fall short would be in signaling that there is plenty more where this came from. If the $1.9 trillion were deemed too small, coalition members could ex ante raise the dollar share of their reserves, reversing diversification into Canadian and Australian dollars, renminbi, and other currencies (Arslanalp et al. 2022). Or highly rated countries could borrow dollars ex ante to add to reserves at low cost. 17

Leadership could arise among the Fed’s standing swap partners – the ECB, Bank of Japan (BoJ), SNB, BoE, and Bank of Canada. The ECB and BoJ were the largest users of the Fed swap lines in 2008 and 2020, respectively. During the 2023 run on Credit Suisse, the SNB acquired unique experience in tapping the New York Fed for $60 billion against US Treasury collateral under the FIMA (foreign and international monetary authorities) repo facility (Martin 2024).

The coalition could enlist the BIS for technical support as an agent as European central banks did in 1973-95 (ECB 2025). Or the BIS could serve as intermediary, as it did when the New York Fed lent dollars through the BIS to offshore banks in the 1960s to prevent funding crunches (McCauley and Schenk 2020).

Using reserves rather than money creation to fund swaps has a snag: the $1.9 trillion is invested, and a crisis calls for electronic cash. If the Fed were to deny swaps, would it continue to provide same-day FIMA funding against Treasuries held in custody?

If it did, the coalition could arrange to access hundreds of billions of dollars in same-day funds to meet a panic. If the Fed did not, then it would end up providing ad hoc funding. Here is why.

Without the FIMA backstop, heavy central bank sales of US Treasuries would rock the US bond market. Such selling could prod the Fed into the market as buyer of last resort — as in March 2020, before the FIMA repo was introduced.

Without the FIMA backstop, central banks might seek to repo hundreds of billions in Treasuries for cash in the market. Such funding could well prod the Fed to cap market repo rates. After all, the recent benchmark rate shift from dollar LIBOR to repo-based SOFR means that the Fed’s own domestic monetary transmission requires well-behaved repo rates.

One way or another, the coalition would need to work with the Fed to manage any “dash for cash” (Barone et al. 2022).

Limits excite. It may well be, as Eurosystem sources grimly noted to Reuters, that “there is no good substitute to the Fed” (Martinuzzi et al. 2025). Even a large pool of dollar reserves would not stack up to “whatever it takes” Fed swaps, as demonstrated neatly in Korea during the 2008 Global Crisis (Baba and Shim 2014).

Nonetheless, a dollar coalition of the willing could pool trillions of dollars to backstop global dollar funding with no more than self-interested Fed help. An inferior lender of last resort beats no lender of last resort.

Robert N McCauley is a nonresident senior fellow of the Global Development Policy Center, Boston University, and an associate member of the Faculty of History, University Of Oxford.

This article was originally published by VoxEU, portal of the Center for European Policy Research. It is republished with permission.

References

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Alito, S (2024), “Dissent to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau et al. v. Community Financial Services Association of America, Ltd., et al.”, Supreme Court of the United States, argued 3 October 2023 — Decided 16 May 2024.

Allison, G (2014), Destined for war, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Arslanalp, S, B Eichengreen and C Simpson-Bell (2022), “The stealth erosion of dollar dominance and the rise of nontraditional reserve currencies”, Journal of International Economics 138, 103656.

Baba, N and I Shim (2014), “Dislocations in the won-dollar swap markets during the crisis of 2007-2009”, International Journal of Finance and Economics 19(4): 279-302.

Barone, J, A Copeland, C Kavoussi, F M Keane and S Searls (2022), “The global dash for cash: why sovereign bond market functioning varied across jurisdictions in March 2020”, Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports, no 110, March.

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Choi, M, L Goldberg, R Lerman and F Ravazzolo (2022), “The Fed’s central bank swap lines and FIMA Repo Facility”, Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review 28(1).

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Footnotes

  1. Powell (2025), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o_9kO0zZQg, at minute 35:50. Rajan’s question was poignant, since he had called attention to the Fed’s not extending a swap to the Reserve Bank of India when he was the Governor in 2013.
  2. The Fed claims the authority of Section 14 of the Federal Reserve Act to do swaps as open market operations. Perry (2000) and Menand (2021, 2022) have questioned this use of the Section 14 authority. To a non-lawyer, that the Congress has received 60 years of reports on the Fed’s foreign exchange operations, including the swaps, implies something like consent. But Menand (2021, p 108) quotes the Supreme Court in a different context: “[u]nlawful acts, performed long enough and with sufficient vigor, are never enough to amend the law.” Perry (2020) predicted in early 2020: “If another crisis were to occur, public outrage might center on certain, legally dubious Fed activities, such as these swap lines.” In the event, there was little discussion of the 2020 swaps. Perry’s and Menand’s proposal that swaps be done under the Fed’s 13.3 authority would make the swaps subject to a Treasury veto, as required by the 2010 Dodd Frank Act’s amendment of 13.3. 
  3. See Hauser and Logan (2022).
  4. It is not certain whether the president has the legal authority to fire the Chair of the Federal Reserve Board without cause. Even if so, the former chair could remain as governor and be voted chair of the FOMC. In the 16 April interview, Chair Powell (2025) said that the Fed was carefully following the case of two labour board members fired by the president. The legal position of the Fed is different from many independent agencies in that the Congress has delegated to it monetary power that the Constitution clearly gives to the Congress. Justice Samuel Alito (2024), although a proponent of the unitary Executive, in a dissent against a ruling that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can be funded by the Fed, set out the unique status of the Fed: “The Government also suggested that the Federal Reserve Board is a close historical analog for the CFPB…But that setup should not be seen as a model for other Government bodies. The [Fed] Board, which is funded by the earnings of the Federal Reserve Banks…is a unique institution with a unique historical background. It includes the creation and demise of the First and Second Banks of the United States, as well as the string of financial panics (in 1873, 1893, and 1907) that were widely attributed to the country’s lack of a national bank…. The structure adopted in the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 represented an intensely-bargained compromise between two insistent and influential camps: those who wanted a largely private system, and those who favored a Government-controlled national bank. … For Appropriations Clause purposes, the funding of the Federal Reserve Board should be regarded as a special arrangement sanctioned by history.”
  5. Steve Kamin and Mark Sobel (2025), formerly senior officials of the Fed Board and US Treasury, respectively, wrote on 10 March that “Trump is undermining the dollar’s global financing and reserve role…The world is openly questioning whether the US is a reliable partner…” Compare to the authors’ “Dollar dominance is here to stay…” in January 2024.
  6. Martinuzzi et al. (2025): “Some European central banking and supervisory officials are questioning whether they can still rely on the U.S. Federal Reserve to provide dollar funding in times of market stress, six [!] people familiar with the matter said, casting some doubt over what has been a bedrock of financial stability. The sources told Reuters they consider it highly unlikely the Fed would not honour its funding backstops — and the U.S. central bank itself has given no signals to suggest that. But the European officials have held informal discussions about this possibility — which Reuters is reporting for the first time — because their trust in the United States government has been shaken by some of the Trump administration’s policies.”
  7. Saravelos (2025): “Ultimately, a withdrawal of the Fed as the international lender of last resort is equivalent to a suspension of the dollar’s role as the safest of global currencies. Doubts about a commitment from the Fed to maintain dollar liquidity — especially against [sic] major allies — would accelerate efforts by other countries to reduce their dependence on the US financial system. It would ultimately lead to lower foreign ownership of US assets and a broad-based weakening of the dollar’s role in the global financial system.” This is a very different scenario of dollar decline from that of Menzie Chinn and Jeffrey Frankel (2007), who imagined a shift from the dollar based on high US inflation. An update by Chinn et al. (2024) finds little role for inflation.
  8. The Kindleberger Trap, one of a vacuum of power, must be distinguished from the Thucydides Trap of Allison (2014), in which the dominant power fears the rising power and goes to war. See Mehrling (2022) for a discussion of Kindleberger’s global public goods that the leader (or ‘hegemon’) needs to provide to supply global financial stability.
  9. Ten years ago, the Economist’s Patrick Foulis (2015) argued that those central banks that were not included in the Fed’s swaps could pool their dollar reserves and thereby insure each other against a sudden need for dollars. Then and now, the undisputed key dollar reserve holder in this negatively defined group is China. Already in 2015, the odd gathering – a case of life imitating an investment bank strategist’s conceit — of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) – started down the road to a swap facility. They have not gotten very far. In the event, “BRICS is ending up as a hub and spoke model with China as the centre” (Garcia-Herrero 2024), but the swap arrangement is according to an insider ‘small’ and ‘frozen’ (Nogueira Batista 2023). This leaves China’s network of bilateral swaps as the real game, which Argentina has demonstrated can be tapped for dollars in extremis.
  10. The author thanks Colin Weiss (2022) for his estimates based on publicly available data, which are doubtless closer to the mark for aggregates like the 14 than for particular countries. For example, Weiss’s procedure overstates known UK dollar reserves, but understates known Swiss dollar reserves. The 14’s total foreign exchange reserves at the end of 2024 were about double the $1.9 trillion. Note that Weiss is working only with dollar reserves held in the US. McCauley (2019) estimates that $1 trillion in dollar reserves were held offshore in 2017.
  11. Oddly, the Bank of Austria was in a position to help owing to earlier fiscal dominance: “After years of unbalanced budgets and seigniorage finance, Austria was in a regime of inconvertible paper and fluctuating exchange rates, which partly insulated it from shocks on convertible countries: the specie reserve of the Bank of Austria was thus useless and could be profitably [at 6% interest] used in foreign support…” writes Flandreau (1997, p 750).
  12. The British consul in Hamburg noted that it was fortunate for Britain that Austria and not Prussia had brought the aid since there would then be no pressure on Hamburg to join the Zollverein.” Note that the borders of the German economy were at issue again in 1931, when the French demanded that Austria renounce a customs union with Germany as the price of another BIS-arranged credit from 11 central banks (Aliber et al. 2023, p 302). 
  13. It must have required five separate loadings (two in Paris, one in Calais, one in Dover, and one in London). Martin (2024) notes that central bank swaps are sometimes affected on the same day but often are T+1.
  14. Flandreau’s general scepticism about central bank cooperation as opposed to profitable central banking sits uneasily with his report on the parliamentary debate on the 1890 gold loan: “On the French side, the operation resulted in hostile interpellation in the chamber of deputies. But the minister of finance replied that such help had been necessary to prevent harmful repercussions for France of a deeper crisis in London.” Flandreau (1997, p 761) concludes, ”In all cases, international help had not resulted from a bilateral realization of common interests. In its most favourable form, it was a consequence of the unilateral perception of the possible gains associated with unilateral support.” In 2025, such enlightened self-interest would be most welcome. See also Bordo and Schwartz (1999), who rate the 1890 help by the Banque de France to the Bank of England a success. 
  15. Aliber et al. (2023, p 296), citing Clapham, the historian of the Bank of England.
  16. Schenk (2010, p 373-374) notes that drawings on the swap paid interest at the US Treasury bill rate, so the swap was presumably all in dollars. Dollar reserves had grown significantly since 1964.
  17. Or even at a profit. In the Global Crisis, the SNB sold dollar paper to fund its rescue of UBS. Where central banks do not have such power to borrow dollars, the government debt manager could borrow dollars and deposit them with the central bank; for top-rated sovereigns the cost of such borrowing net of the return on the reserves is close to zero. In Sweden the Swedish Debt Office borrowed dollars and euros after the GFC and the net cost given the returns earned by the Riksbank was close to zero. See Gislén et al. (2021, p 30) on ex ante versus ex post dollar borrowing.

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China has come to the table – but this fight with the US is far from over

Exactly 20 hours ago
Laura Bicker
EPA A man looks at his phone in his hands as he walks down a street in Shanghai of high-rises with one building showing the results of the local bourse on its facadeEPA

A defining example of this trade war has been China’s rebellion as it faced over US President Donald Trump’s taxes.

Trump has been waiting for the Taiwanese leader to visit in the wake of the jokes.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Beijing has sent an almost daily concept stating,” We will not again down.” China ducked its feet as the tariffs and Washington’s language grew.

A comic of the US Treasury Secretary pushing an empty tram was published on state-run cultural media as Chinese leaders traveled to Switzerland for deals.

There were even conflicting accounts of who started the discussions in Geneva.

However, the situation appears to have changed after two weeks of “robust” discussions.

Is this a significant turning point for Beijing and Washington, then? Both yes and no are true.

” We want to business,”

At a press conference in Geneva, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that” the compromise from both delegations this trip is neither part wants a decoupling.”

” And neither side wants that, because what had happened with these extremely high tariffs… was the same as an restriction.” We do desire trade.

EPA US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent speaks at press conference in Geneva on 12/5/2025 after two days of trade negotiations between US and China officials EPA

Economics acknowledge that this arrangement is more advantageous than anticipated.

Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management in Hong Kong, told Reuters news agency,” I thought tariffs would be cut somewhere around 50 %.”

However, US import tariffs on Chinese goods will now be reduced to 30 %, while Chinese tariffs on US goods will be reduced to 10 %.

” Offered, this is very good news for markets in both countries and for the world economy, and it makes owners much less concerned about the short-term damage to global supply chains,” he continued.

Trump praised the improvement on Sunday on his Truth Social website, saying,” Many stuff discussed, little agreed to. A total eset as r a hed in fashion.

Beijing has even significantly toned down, and perhaps for good cause.

China can suffer a little from an economic war with a can s u fer a litt e America. Less than 100 different nations are its main trading partners.

How However, officials have ver, off i grown more ials have worried about the effects the tariffs might have on a country that is already grappling with a property grow n crisis, more w o stubbornly rie high abou youth th effects t e tari ff might hav o a co unemployment, and low consumer ntry th a confidence.

Stock output has decreased, and there are reports that some businesses are having to lay off employees as their US-bound product creation lines come to a halt, bringing business to a stop.

Data from Saturday revealed that China’s consumer price index dropped 0.1 percent in April, the fourth month in a column of declines as customers hold back from wasting and companies lower rates in a bid to win consumers ‘ business.

EPA Woman wearing a red jacket and mask walks past an Apple store in Beijing on 12/5/2025EPA

The Taiwanese Commerce Ministry stated on Monday that the deal reached with the US was a crucial step in “laying the groundwork for differences and develop participation” and that it was important to “resolve variations” and “lay the groundwork for differences.”

Beijing’s response to this good speech would have appeared impossible in the first few months.

Additionally, the two parties have agreed to hold more discussions, or to hold an “economic and business assessment mechanism,” as Beijing calls it.

Trump’s description of a” full reset” in relationships may be extremely optimistic, given that Beijing’s statement has a slight sting in the neck.

The Commerce Ministry ended with a warning of who it believes to be in trouble.

Based on this gathering,” We hope that the US will continue to work with China to fully correct the bad practice of punitive tax increases,” said the director.

Chinese state media also issued a warning to Washington. According to Xinhua News Agency, China’s “goodwill and patience has its limits, and it will never be used on those who repress and blackmail us without pause or have no qualms about going back on their word.”

Beijing’s leaders will want to present a strong image to both its own citizens and the international community. They will want to appear as though nothing has changed. China is acting responsibly and logically and doing everything it can to prevent a global recession, according to its message.

Zhang Yun, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University, described this as a victory for conscience and reason.

” The discussions also provided the necessary framework for future discussions and discussions.”

This “victory” lasts only for 90 days. The tariffs are only temporarily halted to allow for negotiations.

It will encourage some trade to flow, which will calm the markets ‘ fears.

However, the source of the issue is still present. China still sells significantly more goods to the United States than it purchases. There are also many more complex issues to ignore, including the Taiwan Strait’s and other geopolitical tensions, as well as the subsidies from the Chinese government and important industries.

The fight for a more equitable trade relationship has simply begun.

Negotiating tables are now available in both Beijing and Washington, away from China’s factory floors and American supermarkets.

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