Is China Coming for the Dollar?

The U.S. dollar reigns supreme, but its role as the default global currency is increasingly under scrutiny. In his new book, Our Dollar, Your Problem, Ken Rogoff argues the greenback’s primacy might erode faster than expected. The biggest challenge might not be the status of the dollar as a reserve currency, but as the preferred unit of global exchange.

Some of the U.S.’s biggest rivals, Rogoff argues, are increasingly uncomfortable with the U.S. controlling the rails of global finance through the dollar, and – from Russia to especially China – our adversaries are testing alternatives to dollar invoicing. That raises the question: Is China coming for the dollar? Rogoff joins Jay Sapsford to discuss China’s ambitions amid a weakened economy, why U.S. policies may make the dollar more vulnerable, and the implications of technology lowering the barriers to cross-border transactions.

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