The euro (EUR) is the principal alternative to the dollar and it is fair to say its movements reflect whether the dollar is strengthening or weakening.
Regardless of whether the euro or its collective predecessors were strengthening or weakening over the entire period, the general trend of U.S. export weights to the Eurozone was lower. This was true even during the 1987-1994 period in which the dollar weakened significantly against the euro. A weaker dollar never made U.S. exports to the Eurozone more competitive.
The opposite is not quite true. Import weights did, in fact, trend lower between 1987 and 1994. However, import weights did not fall significantly as the euro strengthened between 2002 and 2004.
The protectionist argument fails and fails significantly for the euro.
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