Accordingly, the trade-weighted exchange rate, a measure of each currency's impact on US trade, has only declined 4.8 percent. This is not enough of a change to make a big difference, because currency fluctuations affect earnings almost immediately, but take a longer time to have a broader economic impact. As a result of the dollar's slide, importers will be paying more. Whether this will have an appreciable effect on inflation is uncertain because the increased cost of imported goods may be offset by reduced profit margins if there is slack demand. American automobile companies view Japanese imports as their major competitor.
Many American companies have operations in Germany and Japan.
The article tries to show that exporters and importers have opposite feelings about the strength of the dollar.