JD Vance — America has a great problem on the horizon; namely that it will one day cease to be the world’s global reserve currency. Should this happen, America would almost certainly cease to be the richest and most powerful country in the world. And should that happen, its citizens would have to come to terms with how much goods and services cost when your home nation doesn’t have an unfair advantage.
Novel problems call for novel solutions, anyway, and vice president JD Vance certainly has an interesting idea:
JD Vance wants to end the US dollar's position as a global reserve currency, because he thinks it allows Americans to consume too much and do so too cheaply.
Keep that in mind the next time you order a $20 burrito on door dash. pic.twitter.com/hrG56Pz8sw
— Phil Magness (@PhilWMagness) August 14, 2026
Okay?
On the topic of what it means to be global reserve currency, Currency Transfer explains:
The term ‘global reserve currency’ refers to a currency that is held in large quantities by a government or institution, in order to conduct international trade, investments or other interactions on the global market. The reserve currency acts as a global common denominator amongst countries, for participating in international trade and finance. This simplifies cross-border operations, providing a stable and widely accepted medium of exchange.
Today, the US dollar is most widely considered the global reserve currency – however, the landscape is constantly evolving, with several factors potentially reshaping the system in the coming decades.
Put simply, the more that global finance relies on your currency, the more powerful said currency is. In turn, the more powerful your currency is, the more powerful your nation is.
The US isn’t the first country to have the global reserve currency; it used to be the UK. When it was Britain’s turn, we were much powerful as a nation, and the same is true of the countries which held the status before us.
JD Vance — “Super heterodox”
In the clip at the top, JD Vance says:
This is like maybe super heterodox. I am not sure that I think the reserve currency is actually good for the United States of America. I think there is a good argument that reserve currency status is akin to coal in Appalachia. It’s a resource curse, right? It allows your consumers to consume very cheaply, right? That’s been the story of the American economy for the last 15 or so years, even before that, is we can just borrow basically in an unlimited way because we have the reserve currency.
Here’s how liberal comms person Joshua Reed Eakle interpreted Vance’s comments:
This is one of the most effective pieces of opposition research on Vance in a year.
He’s literally saying, clearly and in public, that he thinks it’s bad that things are cheap for consumers, and he wants to end one of America’s greatest privileges and strategic advantages of holding world’s reserve currency.
Republicans, wake up to where your party is headed.
If this ideology isn’t extracted from the party root and stem, America will simply never recover from this.
Others had a similar response:
you will own nothing and be happy https://t.co/75kjjlMvME
— derek guy (@dieworkwear) August 15, 2026
China’s entire parliament just reportedly creamed their pants https://t.co/a3reeqhfTu
— Right Wing Cope (@RightWingCope) August 15, 2026
Let him speak
Speaking as non-Americans, we can actually see an upside to America being less powerful than it is now. It’s just odd to see the vice president making that same argument.
The important thing to note about America is that while it’s the richest country to have ever existed, many of its citizens are far from wealthy. Whether its basic poverty, a lack of access to healthcare, or diminishing opportunities, a sizeable number of Americans already live in conditions which are closer to that of a developing nation.
How is this the case?
It’s the case because a minority of billionaires hoard all the wealth; billionaires like Palantir’s Peter Thiel, who served as JD Vance’s mentor. With less and less wealth to extract from ordinary Americans, it’s now the case theat living conditions must get worse to ensure continued growth for the people who already have everything. And losing the global reserve status could just be the tip of the iceberg for how bad things could get.
Featured image via the BBC
By Willem Moore
