Today we are practically living a trade war, a currency war because the exchange rate today is one of the important factors to determine the competitiveness or not of products. Generalized currency depreciation in my view is an explicit strategy used by countries and that threatens us.
Guido Mantega, “The Role of Industry in the Growth of Brazil” organized by the Getulio Vargas Foundation, September 27, 2010. This statement from Brazil’s Finance Minister is eerily similar to statements made by folks around the world — about other countries’ monetary policies. Donald Trump bases his complaints against China on precisely these grounds. Pictured: the Brazilian Real against the U.S. Dollar from 2007 to 2017, courtesy xe.com.