After a long-awaited and frustratingly post-poned decision, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has once again declined to label China as a currency manipulator. 

In a statement, AAM Executive Director Scott Paul said:

“Claiming China doesn’t manipulate its currency makes about as much sense as saying LeBron James doesn’t play basketball.
 
“It’s clear that China’s announcement before the G-20 last month was nothing more than a charade, but the Administration seems to have fallen for this rather unbelievable promise.”

Though the Obama administration did not cite China as a currency manipulator, they did cite the yuan as undervalued against the dollar.  Also known as the remnibi, the yuan has risen a whopping 0.8 percent against the dollar since the Chinese government’s June announcement to gradually let their currency revalue.  This number is negligible, however, in comparison to the 40 percent at which the yuan is estimated at being undervalued.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) issued a statement on the decision as well.  Brown said:

“Secretary Geithner delayed the release of the semiannual exchange rate report to allow room for China to make meaningful progress on moving its currency to market value. That process has recently begun, but we are years away from meaningful progress and the Administration cannot think its work is done on the issue. I’m disappointed the Administration did not label China as a currency manipulator in its delayed report, and I look forward to Secretary Geithner testifying before the Senate Banking Committee to explain this.”

And the decision has not only upset Democrats, but Republicans as well.  ABC News’ White House Correspondent Jake Tapper reports that Sen. Chuck Grassely (R-IA) is unhappy and frustrated by the Administration.  Grassely asserted:

“Everyone knows China manipulates its currency. If the President continues to avoid acknowledging China’s currency manipulation and fails to address it in a meaningful way, Congress will have to act.”

Tapper also quoted Paul who urged:

“Congress must pass strong legislation to address China’s currency manipulation so that America’s workers and businesses can compete on a level playing field. We will never double exports unless we stop China’s cheating. This is a step backward.”

Read more here and here and see Paul and Brown’s statements here and here. 

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 1:00 pm and is filed under AAM, Capitol Hill, China, China and Currency Manipulation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.