On Wednesday, the US Treasury released its much-awaited semi-annual foreign exchange report on the currency practices of its major trading partners, which avoided naming China as a "currency manipulator". However, the issue of China's currency management remains high on the US agenda. In recent weeks, US leaders have also been beating the drum on it - China's practices in particular. President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence have both alleged that China has been manipulating its currency. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has also expressed concern about the yuan's 6.6 per cent decline against the US dollar this year.
The recent US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade has a clause that has never been seen before in any trade agreement. The clause states that the signatories should "achieve and maintain a market-determined exchange-rate regime". Mr Mnuchin pointed out that the currency provision "is going to be important going forward for trade negotiation''.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Read the full story and more at $9.90/month
Get exclusive reports and insights with more than 500 subscriber-only articles every month
ST One Digital
$9.90/month
No contract
ST app access on 1 mobile device
Unlock these benefits
All subscriber-only content on ST app and straitstimes.com
Easy access any time via ST app on 1 mobile device
E-paper with 2-week archive so you won't miss out on content that matters to you