The Nixon Shock & the End of Bretton Woods

On 15 August 1971 the United States suspended the convertibility of the dollar into gold, ending the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates. The U.S. current account, in modest surplus through the 1960s, moved into deficit — the beginning of the modern pattern.^[1]

1. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (2025). International Transactions Accounts (BPM6). BEA. link.