Washington, D.C. – The Treasury Department on Friday unveiled its semiannual Report on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States, declining to officially name any country as a currency manipulator.
However, the department did conclude that “Vietnam and Switzerland continue to meet all three criteria under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (the 2015 Act) during the period under review” and that Taiwan “met all three of the 2015 Act criteria for the period under review.” Treasury also said it has “urged China to improve transparency regarding its foreign exchange intervention activities, the policy objectives of its exchange rate management regime, the relationship between the central bank and foreign exchange activities of the state-owned banks, and its activities in the offshore RMB market.”
Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul said:
“The expected surge in U.S. private and public sector growth this year will have diluted employment impacts if trading partners misalign or undervalue their currencies. Put simply, other nations shouldn’t be permitted to export their own underconsumption and employment problems to the United States.
“To avoid ‘leakage’ of the trillions of dollars of new investment and spending, we must hold governments that misalign their currencies, subsidize their exports, and engage in other unfair trade practices accountable.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s break with failed trade policies of past administrations—Democratic and Republican—must include a willingness to utilize all the tools available to it to stop unfair trade. We look forward to working with the administration to strengthen these tools. We must also enact strong domestic preferences and policy incentives to ensure foreign manufacturers aren’t utilizing tax dollars to displace American production.”