Trade report could point finger at China
The Treasury Department's Foreign Exchange Report might cause controversy if it's used to accuse China of manipulating its currency. Alisa Roth reports the U.S. worries China is keeping money cheap.
A stack of 100 Yuan notes (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)
More on The Economy, International, Asia
TEXT OF STORY
Doug Krizner: Twice a year, the Treasury Department releases its Foreign Exchange Report. It always creates controversy. Practices of some trading partners might not be fair. Alisa Roth previews this morning's report, and looks at the only trading partner that counts.
Alisa Roth: Yes, you guessed it: China.
Jim Barth: There is an attempt to try to get China, in particular, to allow faster and greater appreciation of its currency.
Jim Barth is a senior fellow at the Milken Institute. He says the U.S. worries China's keeping its currency artificially cheap, and that's making the trade deficit worse.
The Treasury's never actually used this report to accuse China of manipulating its currency for trade advantage. But everyone'll be watching to see if the U.S. does something different this time.
Still, Barth doesn't think the report, no matter how strongly worded, will make much difference:
Barth: The U.S. is going to have a hard time pushing China to do anything. I think China as a major country can't afford to be giving the rest of the world the view that China's going to do whatever the U.S. asks it to do.
Barth says China's worried that exporting less to the U.S. would mean manufacturing less, and that could lead to problems with unemployment.
In New York, I'm Alia Roth for Marketplace.
