There’re claims to economics and then there’s actual economics
The political economist Richard Murphy:
The assumption that there is anything economically rational about what Trump is doing is shattered by the fact that it is clear that what is happening is not a tariff war, but a battle being waged by the USA against the economic consequences of it being possessed of the richest and most powerful economy in the world, combined with it being the creator of the world's reserve currency, meaning it has been able, for decades, to fund its excess consumption, from which the people of the USA have benefited enormously, by running trade deficits with countries around the world for which the USA has not needed to make settlement because the world has been willing to take and hold dollars that they never redeem in exchange for massively subsidising the US lifestyle in this way.
An economist, Paul Krugman:
What does America gain from the dollar’s special role? You often find people declaring that it’s only thanks to the dollar’s power that the United States has been able to run persistent trade deficits – people have to take our money, you see. But even a quick glance at international balance of payments statistics reveals that countries whose currencies play no exceptional role whatsoever are perfectly capable of running deficits over long periods of time; all that matters is that they are perceived as reliable debtors who offer good investment opportunities.
So what are the advantages of owning a reserve currency? You get to borrow in your own currency – but then, so do other countries (again, this comes down to your reliability, not your currency’s special status). And there’s nothing in the data suggesting that you can borrow more cheaply than other safe borrowers.
What you’re left with, basically, is seigniorage – the fact that some people outside your country hold your currency, which means that, in effect, America gets a zero-interest loan corresponding to the stash of dollar bills (or $100 bills mainly) held in the hoards of tax evaders and drug dealers around the world. In normal times, this privilege is worth something like $20 billion to $30 billion a year; that’s not a tiny number, but it’s only a small fraction of 1 percent of America’s gross domestic product.
One of those little proofs that if you put the word “political” in front of another - as with “social” in front, or “studies” after - then you have wholly destroyed the meaning of the word being so modified.
Tim Worstall