Trade Wars, Currency Wars and Mutually Assured Destruction

(Bloomberg) --

On Monday, China let its currency depreciate by the most since 2015, then later in the week President Donald Trump put more pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to weaken the U.S. dollar.

Has the trade war morphed into a currency war? And what are the implications for global markets? Bloomberg's Emily Barrett fills in as co-host on this week's “What Goes Up” podcast for Sarah Ponczek, while Bloomberg’s macro strategist Cameron Crise and currencies reporter Katherine Greifeld also join the conversation.

“We are kind of seeing the shots fired in a currency war,” says Crise. “And the problem is if everyone cuts rates to weaken their currency, we’re not on the gold standard -- the whole world can’t devalue against sort of a central peg. If everybody wants a weaker currency and cuts rates to delivery it, you’re going to end up essentially right back where you started on a relative basis, except with less ammunition in terms of conventional rate cuts to fight against the next global recession.’’

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Topher Forhecz at tforhecz@bloomberg.net

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