China, the European Union and others have been manipulating their currencies and interest rates lower, while the U.S. is raising rates while the dollars gets stronger and stronger with each passing day - taking away our big competitive edge. As usual, not a level playing field... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2018 Is Donald Trump justified in his complaints concerning the path for policy rates in the United States? Yes and no. Are Donald Trump's comments an accurate and fair reflection of what is going on in the foreign exchange markets? In the humble opinion of this blog, no they are not. Before even trying to explore such questions, it is important to acknowledge the current trends. The Fed Funds rate has moved from under .15% before the first Fed rate hike in December 2015 to 1.91% which is within the Fed's range of 1.75% & 2%. During this time the two year treasury rate rose from .91% to roughly 2.67% at present. Following the July ...