Trump's U-turn on China's currency boosts RMB
By Xie Jun Source:Global Times Published: 2017/4/13
US president says China is not a currency manipulator
The value of China's currency, the yuan, gained on Thursday after US President Donald Trump reversed his campaign rhetoric that he would label China a currency manipulator.
The yuan's reference rate against the US dollar stood at 6.8651 on Thursday, up 289 basis points compared to Wednesday's, the biggest gain since January 18.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Trump stressed that "they [China] are not currency manipulators," a change in tone from accusations he made during last year's election campaign.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump said one of the reasons why he had changed his mind was because China hasn't been manipulating its currency for months.
A US Treasury spokesperson also confirmed that the department's semi-annual report on currency practices of the country's major trading partners will not name China a currency manipulator, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
China's customs spokesperson Huang Songping said at a press conference on Thursday that China and the US have win-win economic and trade ties.
"Currency management is a domestic policy. How can the US blame its own financial and economic problems on other countries' currency policies?" Tan Yaling, head of the Beijing-based China Forex Investment Research Institute, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Six nations, including China, were put by the US Treasury on a watch list of countries at risk of engaging in unfair foreign exchange practices in its October 2016 currency report, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
Under US law, branding a country a currency manipulator can trigger an investigation and negotiations on tariffs and trade. The US last branded China a currency manipulator in 1994.
