this marks the 16th time that the obama administration has drawn that conclusion over the past eight years | getty by doug palmer 10/14/16 04:22 pm edt updated 10/14/16 05:19 pm edt the obama administration on friday rejected donald trump<u+2019>s claim that china is manipulating its currency for an unfair trade advantage, but kept the country on its new monitoring list, signaling it will closely watch beijing<u+2019>s foreign exchange practices over the next six months. in a semi-annual report to congress, the treasury department once again concluded that <u+201c>no major trading partner of the united states<u+201d> was artificially depressing the value of its currency against the dollar in order to boost exports to the united states. story continued below this marks the 16th time that the obama administration has drawn that conclusion over the past eight years. in fact no administration, republican or democratic, has named any country a currency manipulator since 1994, when china was cited. the trump campaign blasted the decision, pointing out that obama criticized the republican administration of george w. bush for not declaring china a currency manipulator when he was running for president in 2008. <u+201c>obama<u+2019>s treasury department had one last chance to fulfill candidate obama<u+2019>s [promise] to brand china a currency manipulator,<u+201d> trump campaign adviser peter navarro said in an email. <u+201c>it refused, and obama will leave office with one of his biggest lies intact. now comes hillary clinton spinning the same yarns in states like ohio, pennsylvania and north carolina that have been devastated by nafta and china and its voters beware.<u+201d> by edward-isaac dovere there was no immediate comment from the clinton campaign. trump has made challenging china<u+2019>s trade and currency policies a major theme of his campaign and has vowed to instruct his treasury secretary to declare china a currency manipulator, an action that carries no immediate penalty but would likely roil relations with beijing. <u+201c>any country that devalues their currency in order to take advantage of the united states will be met with sharply,<u+201d> the real estate mogul said in a speech this summer outlining his seven-point plan to bring jobs back to the united states. trump's democratic rival, hillary clinton, has also promised to crack down on foreign currency manipulators, but has stopped short of threatening to label china as one. the reluctance of consecutive administrations to label any country a currency manipulator has frustrated many lawmakers who accuse china of deliberately undervaluing its currency to make its exports artificially cheap. the dramatic rise in the u.s. trade deficit with china over the last two decades to a record $367 billion in 2015 has fueled those complaints. however, u.s. officials have been loath to use the politically loaded term, arguing it is much better to engage china diplomatically to persuade it to change. in addition, they argue, the only consequence of labeling china a currency manipulator is a requirement that the administration press beijing to reform its practices, which the white house already routinely does in its economic talks. by doug palmer the chinese yuan has fallen about 3.2 percent over the past year against the dollar and is currently at its lowest level since 2010. but economists say that reflects market concerns about the country<u+2019>s slowing economy and capital flight rather than chinese government action. if not for china<u+2019>s central bank intervening in the currency market to stem the rate of decline, it would likely be lower than it is now. <u+201c>their intervention is keeping the currency from depreciating more rapidly,<u+201d> nicholas lardy, a senior fellow at the peterson institute for international economics, said. <u+201c>we should be thanking them rather than criticizing them.<u+201d> the treasury department echoed that point in its report, which refers to the yuan by its formal name, the renminbi (rmb). <u+201c>china<u+2019>s intervention in foreign exchange markets has sought to prevent a rapid rmb depreciation that would have negative consequences for the chinese and global economies,<u+201d> the report said. <u+201c>treasury estimates that from august 2015 through august 2016, china sold more than $570 billion in foreign currency assets to prevent more rapid rmb depreciation.<u+201d> the treasury department did not let china completely off the hook, keeping the world<u+2019>s second largest economy on a currency <u+201c>monitoring list<u+201d> along with japan, south korea, taiwan and germany. it also added switzerland to the list for the first time. the department created the list in its april report, using new criteria set by congress in recently passed customs legislation. the three-part test asks whether a country has a significant trade surplus with the united states, whether it has a significant current account surplus with the entire world and whether it has engaged in persistent one-sided intervention in the foreign exchange market. treasury said china meets only one of three criteria <u+2014> a large trade surplus with the united states. however, it remained on the list because it met at least two of the criteria in the april report, the department said. the other five countries all met at least two of the three criteria. treasury said switzerland was added because its trade with the united states was large enough as of june 2016 to be considered a major trading partner. by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz by jack shafer
defying trump, treasury says china not a currency manipulator - politico
doug palmer edward-isaac dovere doug palmer jack shafer