With more than half of global trade conducted in dollars, the United States is still the world’s largest economy as well as its dominant military and political power. But Donald Trump, in his second presidential term, has put both these facts at unprecedented risk, using America’s global position for political gain and personal enrichment all while undermining the pillars of the nation’s financial dominance, such as the rule of law and the security of global trade flows. 

Yet according to economist Mona Ali, little of this behavior is truly new. The global financial system is, at its core, a political system, though Trump and his advisers are admittedly wielding this system more carelessly than any administration has in a generation. In a wide-ranging discussion, Ali explains who benefits from the dollar’s dominance and whether the world’s reserve currency has any plausible challengers.