This Isn’t 1985. So Why Are They Using a 1985 Fix?

June 27, 2025

In 1985, world leaders met in secret at the Plaza Hotel to solve a problem: the U.S. dollar was too strong.

So they agreed—publicly and privately—to crash it.

What followed was a 50% drop in the dollar's value… and the start of Japan’s lost decades.

Today, something eerily similar is unfolding.

But this isn’t 1985.

And the world—and the dollar—has changed.

Trump’s economic team isn’t calling it a Plaza Accord.

But the blueprint is familiar: coordinated tariffs, pressure on the Fed, and a dollar drop big enough to reset trade.

Analysts say a 20–30% devaluation is needed to narrow the deficit.

Markets are already reacting. The dollar just hit a three-year low, with the current account deficit back to pre-2008 levels.

And Powell? He’s already in the crosshairs.

Back in 1985, the U.S. could call the shots.

Today, China won’t play ball. The EU is fractured. Japan still remembers what happened the last time it said yes.

And while Washington wants a weaker dollar…

America also needs the world to keep buying its debt.

You can’t have both.

A falling dollar makes exports cheaper—but it makes everything else more expensive:

🛢️ Oil.
📦 Imports.
🧾 Debt service.

Inflation could resurge. Foreign investors could walk. And the Fed could lose even more credibility.

It’s not just risky.

It’s a high-stakes replay of a strategy that broke the global economy once already.

This isn’t 1985.

But the fix they’re reaching for hasn’t changed.

And if they pull the trigger—your dollars, your savings, and your investments might be caught in the blast.

—Death of the Dollar