Why the World Is Still Investing in America

American flags fly at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, New York. —Sven Hoppe—Getty Images The world is not selling America short, even if Americans sometimes do.

After spending much of the past few months traveling from Europe to India to China, I’ve been struck by the disconnect between how many Americans talk about our country’s financial system and how clients around the world describe it to me.

At home, the conversation often focuses on volatility, dysfunction, and decline.

Abroad, governments, companies, and investors are still working out how to gain greater access to what America has built.

The data reinforces this.

The U.S. has been capturing a growing share of global direct investment, rising from 15% prior to the pandemic to 20% on average, beginning in 2024 and continuing through this year.

Today the U.S. equity market makes up nearly 65% of global market capitalization.

The same is true of the dollar.

For all the talk of de-dollarization , the broad dollar index remains near its 40-year high .

Shortly after last year’s tariff announcements, the Bank for International Settlements' survey of central banks around the world showed that roughly 90% of transactions remained dollar-based.

These numbers do not mean that America’s position is guaranteed.

They show that, despite the turbulence of recent years, the gravitational pull of the American financial system remains dominant.

This advantage matters when the defining economic question of the next decade may not be who invents the future, but who finances it.

Building the next generation of AI infrastructure, expanding energy capabilities, and reshoring manufacturing will all depend on the ability to mobilize capital at scale.