美国财政部再次指中国未有操控汇率(英文版)

美国财政部再次指中国未有操控汇率(英文版)

The Treasury Department submitted to Congress on 8 July its semi-annual report on foreign exchange rate policies. This report was due on 15 April but was delayed while the Obama administration worked to address concerns about the value of the Chinese yuan. As expected, the report concludes that the yuan is undervalued but again does not find that China has deliberately manipulated the value of its currency to gain a trade advantage. In making this determination the report points out that on 19 June China ended the yuan's peg to the dollar and returned to an exchange rate regime that is "more flexible and more market based." Treasury described this policy shift as "a significant development" and said it is currently focusing on the yuan's rate of appreciation. The yuan has appreciated by about 0.7 percent since the announcement by the People's Bank of China and stood at ¥6.7762 per U.S. dollar as of 16 July, although that value has remained fairly steady since the end of June.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has said that the United States will "closely and regularly monitor the appreciation of the [yuan]" and pledged to "continue to work towards expanded U.S. export opportunities in China that support employment in the United States, in close consultation with Congress." However, a growing number of legislators are not satisfied with Treasury's inaction and some, including House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin (Democrat-Michigan) and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Republican Chuck Grassley (Iowa), are calling on the Obama administration to consider filing a World trade Organisation dispute settlement case against China. For his part, Sen. Chuck Schumer (Democrat-New York) said that it is clear that Congress will have to act to address China's alleged currency manipulation.

Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (Democrat-Montana) recently urged the administration to rethink and revamp the U.S. economic and trade relationship with mainland China and has vowed to introduce legislation aimed at resolving contentious currency issues between the U.S. and other countries by providing a new mechanism to address fundamentally misaligned currencies. The legislation is reportedly similar to a bill introduced by Sens. Baucus, Grassley, Schumer and Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) in June 2007 that was ultimately derailed by a jurisdictional fight with the Senate Banking Committee.