Concerns about a disconnect between exchange rates and trade are not new. Back in the 1980s, the U.S. dollar depreciated, and the yen appreciated sharply after the 1985 Plaza Accord, but trade volumes were slow to adjust. Some commentators then suggested a disconnect between exchange rates and trade. But by the early 1990s, U.S. and Japanese trade balances had adjusted, largely in line with the predictions of conventional models.