Trump admin. declines to brand China a currency manipulator
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration declined Friday to label China a currency manipulator despite President Donald Trump’s insistent pledge during the election campaign that he would do so as soon as he took office.
Instead, the administration’s first twice-yearly currency review singled out China and five other countries as needing to be monitored for their currency practices. The countries — China, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan and Switzerland — were the same six named in the last currency report issued by the Obama administration in October.
The decision not to name China a currency manipulator has marked one of the sharpest major reversals of Trump’s young presidency.
In its report to Congress, the Treasury Department noted that Beijing had intervened in currency markets for about a decade to depress the value of its currency, the renminbi. Keeping the renminbi low gave its exporters a competitive edge by making Chinese goods more affordable overseas and other nations’ products costlier for Chinese buyers.