by any sensible measure the dollar is still strong. The days when the euro traded steadily around $1.30 and sterling at $1.60 are far behind us — try $1.04 and $1.26 on for size instead. The dollar index has risen some 15 per cent over the past decade. Up to now, the mantra in markets has been: don’t worry, the US would never do anything outlandish to try and force the currency lower. One month in to the new president’s reign, it is time to question whether that assumption still makes sense.

At home, the new administration is no less disruptive. Trump has unleashed the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, on the inner workings of the federal government, where his libertarian acolytes are busily ripping out the wiring.

In the currencies markets too, the president’s policy stance is not cutting through. Some of the messaging here has been tricky to parse. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News last week that the US’s strong-dollar policy “doesn’t mean that other countries get to have a weak-currency policy” — hardly a clear signal to sell the buck. [...] Trump’s conviction that dollar strength gives trading partners an unfair advantage is well known.