Dollar falls as traders sell US assets on trade policy risks

Published Mon, Feb 23, 2026 · 10:58 AM

[SINGAPORE] The US dollar dropped against most major currencies as US President Donald Trump’s fresh tariff plans renewed concerns about American policymaking and the appeal of US assets.

A Bloomberg gauge of the greenback retreated as much as 0.3 per cent, extending on Friday’s (Feb 20 decline amid thin trading with Japan’s markets shut for a holiday. The yen, Swiss franc and the Swedish krona led the gains against the US dollar after Trump announced a global levy of 15 per cent following a move by the US Supreme Court to strike down the president’s reciprocal tariffs.

Asian currencies, including the Thai baht and the Malaysian ringgit, also climbed. Meanwhile, futures on the S&P 500 Index dropped 0.7 per cent in Asian morning trade on Monday.

“The US dollar is enduring a broad-based decline as the market tries to assess implications from the court’s decision,” said Rodrigo Catril, strategist at National Australia Bank in Sydney. “Trump’s tariff regime is still in place with more uncertainty.”

Trump’s latest tariff threat, the Supreme Court’s decision, as well as senior US officials’ attempt to defend the administration’s assertive trade policies, have sowed both uncertainties and confusion over policymaking in Washington. This may add to worries about the decline of American exceptionalism following Trump’s initial sweeping global levies in April.

The Bloomberg’s dollar index fell 8.1 per cent last year, its biggest annual drop in eight years, pressured by the Federal Reserve’s policy easing and Trump’s levies.

Senior US officials said Trump’s tariff defeat at the Supreme Court won’t unravel deals negotiated with US partners as they sought to defend the administration’s assertive trade policies. Those deals – which the administration made with partners including China, the European Union, Japan and South Korea – remain in place, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday.

The friction over tariffs spilt over Sunday as Europe’s trade chief said that he will propose halting ratification of a deal struck with the US, while India postponed talks to finalise an interim trade deal.

“The broad US dollar decline likely reflects the fresh injection of policy uncertainty the ruling entails,” Goldman Sachs strategists, including Kamakshya Trivedi, wrote in a note. “Policy uncertainty is a particularly important channel for the US dollar as it can negatively influence investor and business activity.” BLOOMBERG