Dollar Jumps Ahead of Trump Tariff Deadline
(Bloomberg) -- The dollar rose to its highest level in more than a week, extending gains as President Donald Trump started to unveil his proposals for US trade tariffs.
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The greenback strengthened 0.6% against a basket of peers in afternoon trading in New York, picking up steam after Trump moved to impose 25% levies on goods from Japan and South Korea. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index hit its highest level since June 26 and most global currencies slumped, with Japan’s yen and South Korea’s won sinking more than 1%.
“Risky assets are not doing well today as Trump’s tariffs weigh on sentiment,” said Ning Sun, a senior emerging-market strategist at State Street Global Markets in Boston.
The US is sending letters to its trading partners this week ahead of the Wednesday deadline for deals to be reached. But they aren’t the final word on immediate rates, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Levies will kick in on Aug. 1, giving countries without an agreement time to bring offers, he said on Sunday.
The sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs announced in April shook investor faith in the traditional haven status of the US currency and fueled concern the aggressive levies would push the economy into recession. The dollar is still down almost 9% this year.
Last week’s strong US strong payrolls data added to support for the greenback. Pricing for Fed rate cuts has eased since the jobs print, with traders betting on around 51 basis points of easing by year-end on Monday, compared with 65 basis points a week ago.
What Bloomberg Strategists say:
“South Korea has often stood out as particularly vulnerable to tariffs, given its leadership in batteries, chips and cars, as well as its dependence on exports to the US. Stocks are likely to recover in coming days after an initial shock, and we’ve seen a pattern this year of local markets undoing overnight pessimism. But it’s clear the market has not priced in tariffs at a level of 25%.”
— Sebastian Boyd, Macro Strategist, Markets Live
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The yen fell as much as 1.2% to 146.15 per US dollar on Monday, the Japanese currency’s weakest level in nearly two weeks. The South Korean won fell about 1.1% to trade at 1378 per dollar.
At Pioneer Investments, Director of Fixed Income and Currency Strategy Paresh Upadhyaya said he was “not surprised” to see a broad-based selloff in risk assets following Trump’s announcements Monday. “If we get any negative news, which we did for South Korea and Japan, it would lead to a bout of risk aversion,” he said.
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