Interest Rates Affect US Exports To The UK

606 Words2 Pages

Recall that an exchange rate is the price of one currency in another. For example, it may take US $1.35 to buy 1 British Pound. Also recall the interest rates affect exchange rates. What do you predict will happen to the foreign exchange rate if interest rates in the United States increase more than in the UK? (In other words, which currency will become stronger?) How would such a change affect US exports to the UK? Would it be less expensive for an American tourist to take a vacation to London after the interest rate change? Be sure to clearly explain and justify your reasoning. If interest rates in the United States increase more than UK, I feel that global investors will definitely get a higher return from investing in the US, therefore investments will raise or increase and the demand for the dollar will rise relative to Pound. The outcome will be a higher price of a dollar. Now the dollar will appreciate and become stronger and pound will depreciate and become weaker. This is not a good sign for the UK at all. Therefore the exchange rate will decrease below $1.35 pound. For business or governments that trade billions of dollars even small changes in the exchange rate become …show more content…

So the demand for the US export will basically fall. While goods and services from the US will become more expensive for foreigners, causing import to rise and export to decline. A weaker dollar causes a reverse scenario. A more expensive imported goods and services decreases imports, while the American goods and services increases exports. The trade balance of any country is largely determined by the value of the domestic currency in relation to other countries. When the foreign exchange rate of a currency changes it takes at least several months before it has any effect on the volume of imports and

Open Document