Interestingly, there's a trickle of stories in the FT about investment trusts planning to reduce exposure to US (dollar denominated) shares & stocks.
The pivot away from the US in the global political economy is happening, slowly but surely reducing (further) the importance of the US market & economy to the global system.
And once this move, made in response to the Tangerine Tyrant, has been made, it won't be reversed any time soon.
The tectonic plates of economics are moving.
"Tectonic plates"? More of an earthquake
As I have said before "It is all about trust"
The USA imposes a 30% "witholding tax" on individuals taking dividend profits on USA stocks. This is reduced to 15% if a simple W-8BEN form is filed certifying foreign status. If the investor is domiciled in a country with a tax treaty with the USA (like the UK and many other countries) - the tax on certain investments (like a UK #SIPP #pension) is reduced to zero.
There is the fear that the W-8BEN acts as a very easy way to engage a punishing tax at "the drop of #trump hat".
Exchange Traded Fund managers would be very embarrassed if this screw was turned - so there is an overall trend to limit this exposure to a future trade war.
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about this. We both have SIPPs - mine is much smaller and simpler, just spread across a few managed ethical and environmental funds, mainly specific to Europe. His is much more actively managed by a broker, and is invested mainly in the US. My friend is rightly worried about this - but his broker has told him that he just won't get anything like as high returns if they move out of US stocks and shares. I guess it's the old 'high risk = high return vs low risk = low return' dilemma.
I'm also not sure that's really true - the returns on emerging markets stocks are climbing
