Death of the Dollar?

Business Daily

BBC

Business

4.4 • 816 Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2018

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The US unleashed what it calls its "toughest ever" sanctions against Iran. The Trump administration reinstated all sanctions removed under the 2015 nuclear deal, targeting both Iran and states that trade with it. They will hit oil exports, shipping and banks - all core parts of the economy.

But what difference will they actually make? Ed Butler hears from Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University, an outspoken policy advocate who thinks Trump's America First policies are endangering the very status of the dollar as the world's chosen reserve currency.

And to explain how a reserve currency works, Ed hears from Barry Eichengreen, a well-known currency expert and professor of economics at Berkeley in California. And the programme considers whether China's renminbi, or the euro, could ever take over from the mighty dollar.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: An Iranian protester burns a dollar banknote; Credit: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello there, I'm Ed Butler and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.
0:05.9	Today, the US is reviving sanctions on Iran.
0:09.1	The toughest ever, says Donald Trump.
0:11.3	What does this mean for the global economy?
0:13.2	It will have an impact on Iran.
0:15.2	It will have an impact on us in the European Union.
0:18.5	And it may also have an impact on oil prices.
0:21.4	But will it also hurt the US dollar long term?
0:25.0	Some critics of the current US policy think it will.
0:28.3	The distrust of Donald Trump, an erratic, irascible, unstable personality, could very much
0:37.2	accelerate alternatives to the US.S. dollar and international
0:40.6	settlements. Iran sanctions and the dollar. That's Business Daily from the BBC.
0:48.5	So, renewed U.S. sanctions come into effect today. President Trump has enforced
0:53.0	measures that he announced six months ago
0:54.8	to abandon the nuclear deal signed by his predecessor Barack Obama. On Sunday, Mr. Trump said,
1:00.7	the new sanctions would keep Iran's hostile ambitions in check. But what difference will they really
1:05.9	make? The US has allowed some countries to continue trading oil with Iran, India, Turkey, Russia and so on.
1:12.3	But Anahita Thoms, who heads the international trade practice of the firm Baker-McKenzie,
1:17.3	says the measures will hit hard at all business with the Islamic Republic.
1:21.0	There is a first round that affected the automotive sector, the trade and gold sector,
1:30.2	the graphite and raw material sector. And the automotive sector, the trade and gold sector, the graphite and raw material sector.
1:36.6	And the second round now affects the energy sector, the banking sector, insurance, shipbuilding,
	...

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