Returning to this paper, its re-telling of the Nixon Shock shares remarkable similarities to today's rhetoric. It contends that Nixon saw US trade deficits as unsustainable, and that the US never desired to relinquish a molecule of its ability to continue growing its military industrial complex and "open ended emergency financing". Thus the goal was to force US allies to absorb the costs of their defense by importing more American goods via tariffs while closing the gold window. The dollar's status became further entrenched. This interesting parallel to today makes @AnnaEconomist's comparison of today's context to the 1971 Smithsonian agreement (rather than the Plaza Accord) even more apt.