Meeting in Washington last week, representatives of the 82 nations that belong to the International Monetary Fund found something new to worry about. Only a few months ago, many of them had been fearful that the U.S. dollar was growing too weak to maintain its role as the major world trading currency. Now, they agreed, the dollar had gotten strong again—in fact, some thought, dangerously strong.
In the first half of this year, thanks to increased exports and decreased Government spending abroad, the U.S. balance-of-payments deficit ran at an annual rate of $1.5 billion v. 1960's...