Stephen Miran, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, argues that a weaker dollar is needed to fix trade imbalances (Kayla Bartkowski)
One of the architects of US President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz has advocated a shake-up of the global trade and financial systems, centred on a radical strategy to weaken the dollar.
Stephen Miran, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, outlined his idea in a 41-page essay titled “A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System”.
Little known until now, the Harvard-trained economist’s paper — published in November after Trump’s election win — has garnered attention in recent weeks due to its emphasis on tariffs and a weak dollar.
Some analysts say the essay provides the intellectual rationale for Trump’s trade war.
– ‘Mar-a-Lago Accord’ –
For Miran, tariffs and moving away from a strong dollar could have “the broadest ramifications of any policies in decades, fundamentally reshaping the global trade and financial systems”.
Miran’s essay argues that a strong dollar makes US exports less competitive and imports cheaper, while handicapping American manufacturers as it discourages investing in building factories in the United States.
“The deep unhappiness with