US presses China to let yuan strengthen, avoids ‘currency manipulator’ label
Washington says it could still designate Beijing in future if evidence found that it limits currency’s strength
The United States has urged China to allow the yuan to appreciate, accusing Beijing of a lack of transparency and describing the currency as “substantially undervalued”.
“It is important that the Chinese authorities allow the RMB exchange rate to strengthen in a timely and orderly manner in line with market pressure and macroeconomic fundamentals,” the US Treasury said in a report released on Thursday.
China’s exchange-rate policies stood out among major US trading partners for their “relative lack of transparency”, it added, though it stopped short of designating Beijing a currency manipulator.
“This relative lack of transparency will not preclude [the] Treasury from designating China if available evidence suggests that it is intervening through formal or informal channels to resist RMB appreciation in the future,” the report said.