This morning, just a week ahead of President Hu Jintao's visit to the White House, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said China must "move more aggresively to reform the handling of its currency and to take action on U.S. complaints about intellectual property theft," according to the Washington Post.

Geithner said, "We are willing to make progress on these issues, but our ability to do so will depend, of course, on how much progress we see from China."  He believes that allowing their currency to reflect market forces will not only be in the best interest of the United States, but of China as well.

However, Geithner also placed a great deal of weight on America, itself, when it comes to staying on top in a global economic environment that is rapidly changing.  He stated, "They are not just an economic imperative, they are a national security imperative. Our strength as a nation depends on the ability of our political system to move quickly enough to put in place solutions to our long-term problems." 

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