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3/19/2020

Treasury Releases Report on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States | U.S. Depa…

Treasury Releases Report on Macroeconomic and Foreign
Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States
May 28, 2019

Washington – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today delivered to Congress the semiannual
Report on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the
United States. Treasury reviewed and assessed in this Report the policies of an expanded set of
21 major U.S. trading partners. Additionally, Treasury revised and updated the thresholds it
uses to assess where unfair currency practices or imbalanced macroeconomic policies may be
emerging.
The Report concluded that while the currency practices of nine countries were found to require
close attention, no major U.S. trading partner met the relevant 2015 legislative criteria for
enhanced analysis during the period covered by the Report. Further, no trading partner was
found to have met the 1988 legislative standards during the current reporting period.
“The Treasury Department is working vigorously to achieve stronger growth and to ensure that
trade expands in a way that helps U.S. workers and firms and protects them from unfair foreign
trade practices. Treasury takes seriously any potentially unfair currency practices, and Treasury
is expanding the number of U.S. trading partners it reviews to make currency practices fairer
and more transparent,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.
Treasury found that nine major trading partners continue to warrant placement on Treasury’s
“Monitoring List” of major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency
practices: China, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.
“Additionally, Treasury will continue its enhanced bilateral engagement with China regarding
exchange rate issues, given that the RMB has fallen against the dollar by eight percent over the
last year in the context of an extremely large and widening bilateral trade surplus,” said
Mnuchin.
While China does not disclose its foreign exchange intervention, Treasury estimates that direct
intervention by the People’s Bank of China in the last year has been limited. Treasury continues
to urge China to take the necessary steps to avoid a persistently weak currency. China needs to
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm696

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3/19/2020

Treasury Releases Report on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States | U.S. Depa…

aggressively address market-distorting forces, including subsidies and state-owned enterprises,
enhance social safety nets to support greater household consumption growth, and rebalance
the economy away from investment. Improved economic fundamentals and structural policy
settings would underpin a stronger RMB over time and help to reduce China’s trade surplus with
the United States.
Today’s Report

is submitted to Congress pursuant to the Omnibus Trade and

Competitiveness Act of 1988, 22 U.S.C. § 5305, and Section 701 of the Trade Facilitation and
Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, 19 U.S.C. § 4421. Treasury is working actively to dismantle
unfair barriers to trade and achieve freer and more reciprocal trade with major U.S. trading
partners. This includes combatting unfair currency practices that facilitate competitive
advantage, such as unwarranted intervention in currency markets.
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https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm696

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