NEW YORK (AP) — Among the threats tariffs pose to the U.S. economy, none may be as strange as the sell-off in the dollar.

Currencies rise and fall all the time because of inflation fears, central bank moves and other factors. But economists worry that the recent drop in the dollar is so dramatic that it reflects something more ominous as President Donald Trump tries to reshape global trade: a loss of confidence in the U.S.

The dollar’s dominance in cross-border trade and as a safe haven has been nurtured by administrations of both parties for decades because it helps keep U.S. borrowing costs down and allows Washington to project power abroad — enormous advantages that could possibly disappear if faith in the U.S. was damaged.

“Global trust and reliance on the dollar was built up over a half century or more,” says University of California, Berkeley, economist Barry Eichengreen. “But it can be lost in the blink of an eye.”

Since mid-January, the dollar has fallen 9% against a basket of currencies, a rare and steep decline, to its lowest level in three years.

Many investors spooked by Trump don’t think the dollar will be pushed quickly from its position as the world’s reserve currency, instead expecting more of a slow decline. But even that is scary enough, given the benefits that would be lost.

With much of world’s goods exchanged in dollars, demand for the currency has stayed strong even as the U.S. has doubled federal debt in a dozen years and does other things that would normally send investors fleeing. That has allowed the U.S. government, consumers and businesses to borrow at unnaturally low rates, which has helped speed economic growth and lift standards of living.

Dollar dominance also allows the U.S. to push around other countries like Venezuela, Iran and Russia by locking them out of a currency they need to buy and sell with others.

Now that “exorbitant privilege,” as economists call it, is suddenly at risk.

“The safe haven properties of the dollar are being eroded,” said Deutsche Bank in a note to clients earlier this month warning of a “confidence crisis.” Added a more circumspect report by Capital Economics, “It is no longer hyperbole to say that the dollar’s reserve status and broader dominant role is at least somewhat in question.”

Traditionally, the dollar would strengthen as tariffs sink demand for foreign products.

But the dollar not only failed to strengthen this time, it fell, puzzling economists and hurting consumers. The dollar lost more than 5% against the euro and pound, and 6% against the yen since early April.

As any American traveler abroad knows, you can buy more with a stronger dollar and less with a weaker one. Now the price of French wine and South Korean electronics and a host of other imports could cost more not only due to tariffs but a weaker currency, too.

And any loss of safe-haven status could hit U.S. consumers in another way: Higher rates for mortgages and car financing deals as lenders demand more interest for the added risk.

More worrisome is possible higher interest rates on the ballooning U.S. federal debt, which is already at a risky 120% of U.S. annual economic output.

“Most countries with that debt to GDP would cause a major crisis and the only reason we get away with it is that the world needs dollars to trade with,” says Benn Steil, an economist at the Council on Foreign Relations. ”At some point people are going to look seriously at alternatives to the dollar. ”

They already have, with a little help from a U.S. economic rival.

China has been striking yuan-only trading deals with Brazil for agricultural products, Russia for oil and South Korea for other goods for years. It has also been making loans in yuan to central banks desperate for cash in Argentina, Pakistan and other countries, replacing the dollar as the emergency funder of last resort.

Another possible U.S. alternative in future years if their market grows: cryptocurrencies.

Said BlackRock Chairman Larry Fink in his annual shareholder letter about dollar dominance, ”If deficits keep ballooning, America risks losing that position to digital assets like Bitcoin.”

Not everyone is convinced that a big reason the dollar is falling is because of lost faith in the U.S.

Steve Ricchiuto, an economist at Mizuho Financial, says dollar weakness reflects anticipation of higher inflation due to tariffs. But even if investors aren’t as comfortable holding dollars, he says, they really don’t have much of a choice. No other currency or other asset, like yuan or bitcoin or gold, is vast enough to handle all the demand.

“The U.S. will lose the reserve currency when there is someone out there to take it away,” Ricchiuto says. “Right now there isn’t an alternative.”

Maybe so, but Trump is testing the limits.

It’s not just the tariffs, but the erratic way he’s rolled them out. The unpredictability makes the U.S. seem less stable, less reliable, and a less safe place for their money.

There are also questions about his logic justifying the policy. Trump says the U.S. needs tariffs to drive down its trade deficits with other countries. But most economists believe those deficits, which measure trade in goods, not services, are a bad measure of whether a country is “ripping off” America, as Trump puts it.

Trump has also repeatedly threatened to chip away at the independence of the Federal Reserve, raising fears that he will force interest rates lower to boost the economy even if doing so risks stoking runaway inflation. That is a sure fire way to get people to flee the dollar. After Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that he would wait to make any rate moves, Trump blasted him, saying “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”

Economists critical of Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement recall another event, the Suez Crisis of 1956, that broke the back of the British pound. The military attack on Egypt was poorly planned and badly executed and exposed British political incompetence that sank trust in the country. The pound fell sharply, and its centuries-long position as the dominant trading and reserve currency crumbled.

Berkeley’s Eichengreen says Liberation Day, as Trump called April 2, could be remembered as a similar turning point if the president isn’t careful.

“This is the first step down a slippery slope where international confidence in the U.S. dollar is lost.”

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher in thin Good Friday trading after a bumpy ride on Wall Street, where the Dow industrials lost 1.3% as UnitedHealth shed more than a fifth of its value due to a weaker-than-expected profit report.

U.S. stock and bond markets will be closed on Friday.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 1% to 34,730.28, while the Kospi in South Korea rose 0.5% to 2,483.42.

Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.3% and regional tech companies advanced after global heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported a profit for the latest quarter that matched analysts’ expectations. Perhaps more importantly, it also said it hasn’t seen a drop-off in activity from its customers because of President Donald Trump‘s trade war, as some other companies have suggested.

Still, the company known as TSMC was cautious. “While we have not seen any changes in our customers’ behavior so far, uncertainties and risks from the potential impact from tariff policies exist,” Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang said. TSMC’s stock that trades in the United States added 0.1% on Thursday.

The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.1% to 3,276.73. Bangkok’s SET rose 0.6%.

Many other markets were closed Friday for holidays ahead of Easter.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 edged up by just 0.1%, even though three of every four stocks climbed in the index.

The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1% in a mostly steadier performance following its sell-off the day before.

Nvidia weighed on the market after sinking a second straight day following its disclosure that new export limits on chips to China could hurt its first-quarter results by $5.5 billion. It sank 2.9% and was the second-heaviest weight on the S&P 500.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 527 points as insurer UnitedHealth Group fell 22.4%, its worst drop since 1998. The company cut its forecast for financial results this year and said its Medicare Advantage customers were getting more care than expected from doctors and outpatient services.

Stocks of companies in the oil-and-gas industry rallied after the price of crude recovered some of its sharp losses taken this month. Diamondback Energy jumped 5.7%, and Halliburton climbed 5.1%.

On Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained $2.18 to $64.01 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up $2.11 to $67.96 per barrel.

Oil trading was paused Friday for the Easter weekend.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war remains a source of deep uncertainty. Economists worry his use of sharp tariff hikes could cause a recession if fully implemented and left in place for a while.

Trump on Thursday offered some encouraging signals that negotiations with other countries could lead to lower tariffs. But that was countered by his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who reiterated Wednesday that the tariffs are larger than what the central bank was expecting and could slow the economy and reignite inflation.

The tariffs create a dilemma for the Fed. If it cuts interest rates to help encourage more borrowing and spending, that would push prices higher.

Trump criticized that stance Thursday, saying the Fed is “always TOO LATE AND WRONG.” He also said, “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”

An independent Fed able to act without influence from the White House a primary reason the United States has a reputation as a safe place to invest. History suggests central banks with more autonomy tend to have economies with lower and more stable inflation.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.32% from 4.29% late Wednesday. It had been easing for much of this week, following a climb last week that raised concerns that Trump’s trade war may be undermining confidence in U.S. investments as the world’s safest.

Reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed. One said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected, suggesting the job market remains relatively solid. But a second report said manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region unexpectedly flipped to contraction from growth.

In Europe on Thursday, indexes slipped 0.6% in France and 0.5% in Germany. The European Central Bank cut its main interest rate. That usually pushes stock prices higher, but investors had already been expecting the move.

Early Friday, the U.S. dollar bought 142.37 Japanese yen, down from 132.44 yen on Thursday. The euro rose to $1.1375 from $1.1367