This is what is actually so scary. Iirc the petrodollar system has kept American economic hegemony in place for ~50 years but new debt is more likely to be denominated in a mix of Euro, dollar, and RMB. At some point there will be a breaking point in foreign policy (not least of all because the end of American empire has us so focused on domestic fights) and the petrodollar will be over with the signing of a pen. That will trigger a massive reorganizing of the domestic economy and launch China’s primacy.
The trade deficit has also given the US power, and as the petrodollar disappears with fossil fuel no longer being the driver of energy, the US's purchasing power will keep it afloat.
With T-bills trading at negative rates, the US is in a really strong position. People are paying the US for the ability to hold US currency.
This is why I find it so odd that supposedly nationalists in the US rail against the trade deficit and US "debt." Our "debt" is actually just the currency of the world, and as the world grows wealthier and wants to hold our currency, there needs to be more of it out there. This is good for the US and puts other countries at a disadvantage!
It hurts different parts of America to different degrees.
A strong U.S. dollar is generally good for U.S. consumers and bad for people who work in U.S. export industries. The dollar being the global reserve currency is good for the financial industry and bad for everyone else. So basically Wall Street (and workers in industries where America is dominant anyway, like tech, defense, biotech) should favor a strong dollar, while Main Street should favor a weak dollar. This isn't far off from reality: many of the "U.S. nationalists" represent constituents whose jobs have been eviscerated by foreign competition.
