coming up in our next hour, barry eichengreen, one of their great international economists. from our berlin studios on europe. ♪

we are thrilled to bring you barry eichengreen, later on. this is fun. it is not even like a job. hengreen? yes! -- michael mckee will be in washington. from london, from new york, this is bloomberg. ♪ francine: london and new york. we will get on to the markets and some financial news as we get back to foreign policy after we understand the donald trump has been told that donald trump intends to choose rex tillerson as secretary of state kerry let's get to the "bloomberg business flash." taylor: merck plans to make up the money that it is losing with the separation of its energy business by boosting growth and transportation. carrierest container will increase shipping and logistics activities through organic growth and acquisition. -- energy business italy's largest mankins planning its biggest overhaul ever to boost capital letters and profits. --credit will sell 13 point 13 point $8 billion in stock. in the latest european stress test, unicredit had the slimmest capital buffer among banks considered important to the financial system. that is your latest "bloomberg business flas

i think of barry eichengreen, a few yearsl book ago, "exorbitant privilege."of american exceptionalism. where is the dollar as the standard of the american economy? i don't buy it. joseph nye does not buy it. abby: the united states dollar is the world's reserve currency, and will remain the world's reserve currency. but let's keep in mind that china has already stepped up to become an increasingly important regional reserve currency in asia. a few years back, 40% of all trade in asia was done in the form of dollars, even though the united states was only 10% of that trade. china has moved in. let's keep in mind the following, over the last three years, the trade weighted dollar has risen about 25% or 30%. while we feel good that it says something about the u.s. being strong, it also is an impediment to economic growth. the fastest-growing segment of the u.s. economy has been exports in the last decade. but with our cost of 25% to 30%, that makes it much more difficult for exports to grow. tom: help me with this concept of american exceptionalism and what we h