US to Remove 'Currency Manipulator' Label from China

Expected Announcement on the Afternoon of the 13th
Decision Ahead of the Stage 1 Trade Agreement Signing Ceremony

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The US government plans to remove China from the currency manipulator list, Bloomberg News reported on the 13th (local time).

The news agency, citing multiple sources, reported that the US Treasury Department will soon remove China from the currency manipulator list in its semi-annual currency report. The US originally planned to release the currency report in October last year but has postponed it until now. Major foreign media outlets such as CNBC also reported consecutively, citing officials, that the US will remove China from the currency manipulator list.

The report stated that the release of the report had been delayed due to the finalization of the US-China Phase One trade agreement, and evaluated that the removal of the currency manipulator designation removes an obstacle in this week's US-China trade agreement. This explanation fuels the possibility that the currency report removing China from the currency manipulator list will be released ahead of the signing of the Phase One trade agreement between the two countries scheduled in Washington DC on the 15th. In this regard, The New York Times reported that the currency report will be released in the afternoon of the same day.

The US Treasury Department abruptly designated China as a currency manipulator on August 5 last year during the US-China trade negotiations. China was classified as a monitoring country in the semi-annual report in May last year, but the situation reversed dramatically in just three months. When the Chinese yuan exchange rate entered the 7-yuan-per-dollar range, the US judged that China manipulated its currency to reduce the damage from the trade dispute and made this decision.

Meanwhile, the news agency reported that the US Treasury Department declined to comment on this matter. However, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed in September last year that the designation of China as a currency manipulator could be withdrawn if a US-China trade agreement is reached.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.