Dollar's Slide Adding to Tensions U.S. Faces Abroad.

Reports that President Bush's next confrontation with the world could involve a potential currency crisis, in which a steep plunge in the value of the dollar touches off economic waves around the world. Reference to the fact that tensions over the dollar are becoming a recurring source of friction; Complaints from the finance ministers of Germany and France that Europe has unjustly borne the brunt of the dollar's decline; Call for a coordinated action to stop it; Need for the United States to reduce its deficits; Similar complaints from China's prime minister; Conviction of Treasury Secretary John W. Snow that the tight budget Mr. Bush is expected to send to Congress should give foreigners and the financial markets the solace they seek; Importance of the fact that the dollar has stabilized a bit and that its fall may never reach a crisis level.