 Jaguar cars are parked in rows at the Castle Bromwich plant in Birmingham in January 2009. (Darren Staples/Reuters) By Jim Tankersley, Ylan Q. Mui and Chico Harlan Thanks to Brexit, the French may not buy as many American pharmaceuticals this year. Germans probably won't buy as many Japanese printers. It's the best time in recent memory for a non-Brit to drive home a new Jaguar, but no one in Britain should be too excited about that. Britain's vote to leave the European Union has shocked the global economy in an unusual way, unleashing a currency war in which all sides appear likely to lose. In the wake of the June 24 vote, the value of the British pound has plummeted, falling from $1.48 per pound Thursday to $1.34 this morning, hovering around the lowest level in 30 years. The U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen have surged. And unlike in normal times — when currency fluctuations tend to make winners and losers — this time all three countries are now bracing for currency-driven slowdowns in their economies. And they may not be alone, dragging along countries from Brazil to China along with them. The turmoil in foreign exchange markets since Brexit exemplifies a new world order. A strong currency used to be the hallmark of an advanced economy, a symbol of financial stability and international influence. Developing nations took advantage of their currency's weaker status to export their way to economic success. But now, those rules no longer seem to apply. Japan is bemoaning the strength of its currency, the United States is chastising others who kept their currency too weak (and thus the dollar too strong), and emerging markets such as Brazil are trying to prop theirs up. Britain suddenly finds itself in a similar boat to many developing nations, less concerned with how a weaker currency might boost its export sectors and more with the faltering economic prognosis that is driving investors away from the pound. | 
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