The awareness suddenly came. And I'm still sick of it.
I was working on something technical. A currency analysis. An invoice in USD, a few exchange rate differences. Routine. Until I put it together. And then it happened. The figures suddenly became no longer accounting. No exchange rates. No BI database. They were losing. It's a real loss. Of value. From money. of purchasing power.
I literally saw how the dollar melted. And how everyone in the Netherlands is directly affected by it. Not figuratively. Not academically. No, it's hard. On your bank balance, your budget, your profits, your wages. Suddenly it became painfully clear: What Trump does in America has direct, financial consequences for us. And we're already seeing it.
“You don’t get some insights by reading. You feel it. And this was one of them.”
A simple invoice. Three dates. Three values. One slap in the face.
On May 1st you will send an invoice of 1,000 USD. Then it's worth €887.60. Your customer pays on May 28th. Now only €885.23. Today? €856.54. You didn't do anything wrong. You have 3.5.% Lost your value. And that's just this bill. Now think about all your USD invoices, your USD purchase, your USD income.
This is not a theoretical problem. This is a structural loss. And it's not because of market forces or inflation. It's because of politics. Because of chaos. By Trump, who is thundering through the world economy like a bulldozer, and drags the dollar into the abyss with it.
“The dollar isn't just dropping – it's pulling your balance with it.”
The Dutch government? We've already lost $200 million in silence.
In January 2025, the Netherlands had USD 6,864 billion in reserves. On 1 May, it was worth €6.092 billion. Today: €5,884 billion. More than €200 million loss in less than three months, purely due to a fall in the exchange rate. Not because we bought something. Not because we did anything. Just because we were holding dollars.
These reserves belong to all of us. That money could have gone to education. Take care of it. Energy compensation. But no. It has now evaporated, without anyone saying a word about it. And it will continue as long as we continue to pretend the dollar is a safe haven.
“You only notice that value disappears when it should have landed somewhere – and it is not there.”
Trump's economic policy? A dagger in our wallet.
It's tempting to think: “Trump is America’s problem.” But that is naive. Its isolationism, trade wars and subversion of institutions do exactly what markets fear: They make the U.S. unreliable. And so the dollar goes down. And so we lose.
Our companies trading in dollars? Lose margin. Our government with dollar reserves? Loss of firepower. Our tech subscriptions? It's not going to be cheaper, because companies like Microsoft and Amazon are compensating with price increases. It's a perfect system. For them. And a nightmare for us.
“Trump's policy does not affect you through CNN – it affects you through your real purchasing power.”
The sum of them hurts – for everyone
If you don't have a business, you may think it doesn't affect you. Wrong. Your employer is losing margin. Your government is losing space. Your products will become more expensive. Your salary is less. Everything depends on everything. And when the foundation starts to shift – as it does now – the house automatically becomes crooked.
And you know what's the worst? This happens silently. Without panic messages. Without a journal. without a parliamentary debate. But it does happen. And that realisation, that one moment when I saw it all in front of me – I want to give you that. Because it's too important to ignore.
“You can only act when you see it. Now is the time to see it.”
English (UK)