Yesterday, April 12, marked Record Store Day 2025, so it seemed fitting to borrow the title of legendary East Bay band Crimpshrine’s song The Direction of Things to Come, because, really, ‘where we gonna go from here’?

Friday marked the US dollar’s worst collapse in years on the DXY: Exchange, ending the trading day at just $99.78 – slightly up from the day’s low of $99.01.

A weak dollar is bad for the US, insofar as it makes imports – all the stuff bought from foreign countries – more expensive.

Plunging currency value, coupled with multiple retaliatory tariffs, has put lower-income American households on a path to even less purchasing power, which is particularly worrisome for already stretched lower and middle-income families.

Currently, the United States imports from other countries 36% or over 1/3 of all consumer goods.

Imports include food, clothing, electronics, and one of the largest categories of imports, prescription medications – all relatively essential categories of goods.

Can the average American household really afford to pay more for medication?

Additionally, raw materials are imported for use in American manufacturing; these also become more expensive for companies, resulting in those additional costs being passed onto consumers in the form of high prices at the checkout.

Take, for example, books. The US Bureau of Industry and Security reported in 2021 that almost half (46.1%) of the total US imports of wood, cork, paper, and printed books were imported. This included a significant amount of paper used for book printing, with a substantial portion coming from Canada. 

With less purchasing power from a weaker U.S. dollar and a chaotic – ever-changing – tariff policy, how will U.S. consumers be better off?

Perhaps there is more to the story than just the world fleeing from the U.S. dollar to other, more stable, reserves such as gold.

Trump has long criticized China for manipulating their currency.

For a country that exports high volumes, it is in its best interest to have a lower currency value, as it makes its goods relatively less expensive for citizens of other countries to buy and import.

The current U.S. Administration’s highly touted goal of bringing back the glory days of US manufacturing would no doubt benefit from a weaker currency to help push any American manufactured goods out to the global market.

So, is the current American administration playing the currency-manipulating game as well?

Both President Trump and Vice-President Vance, ahead of the 2024 general election, opined about the benefits of having a weaker US dollar.

Furthermore, Trump is a big proponent of lower interest rates – just last week, he tweeted that the Federal Reserve should cut rates again.

The dollar’s value tends to fall a interest rates go down.

It is unclear that there is a sole reason for the dollar’s collapse; it is likely a combination of skittish investors looking for less chaos and safer bets and the Administration’s orchestrating for a weaker currency.

What is clear is that the daily chaos of short-sighted, poorly implemented policy is making The Direction of Things to Come more concerning for everyday Americans.