A prominent US lawmaker scolded US President Barack Obama’s administration on Sunday for delaying the release of a report that could declare China a currency manipulator and lead the way to trade sanctions.
“We have a real problem with the Chinese. They are very shrewd and customarily they outmaneuver us,” said Democratic senator Arlen Specter, one of many US lawmakers clamoring for China to revalue its overpriced yuan.
“They take our jobs. They take our money and then they lend it back to us and own a big part of America,” Specter told the Fox News Sunday TV show, adding: “I’m not too happy about a delay.”
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Saturday delayed a semi-annual report scheduled for April 15 that could have declared that China was manipulating the value of its yuan, paving the way for trade sanctions.
The delay was widely expected after China said President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) would visit Washington for a summit on nuclear security starting next Monday.
China watchers say Hu would not dare come and risk the loss of face of a reprimand days later unless he had at least an informal assurance from Treasury.
Specter said efforts to placate Beijing might be aimed at getting China’s support for Iran sanctions, but insisted that “we can’t stand back and let them manipulate the currency and run us ragged on the economy.”
“The trade imbalance is now US$337 billion in Chinese imports to the United States — about a fifth of that from the US to China. So I’d like to see our system on a level playing field,” Specter said.
He said that he and fellow Congress members would closely “watch exactly what’s happening” with China’s undervalued currency, particularly its effect on economically depressed areas like his rustbelt state of Pennsylvania.
“If we face up to the currency issue, the steel industry can provide a lot more jobs in my state and across the country,” Specter said.
Expectations have been rising that China will revalue its currency after Washington held off on potential reprisals, but any adjustment may not be enough to mollify the anger of US lawmakers and firms.
Neither White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers nor fellow adviser Christina Romer would publicly back claims by some lawmakers that China manipulates its currency at the expense of US jobs.
Summers told ABC’s This Week that “no one can be satisfied where we are” on the trade imbalance, but that the decision to delay the report was not calculated to engage China on Iran’s nuclear ambitions and other delicate issues.
Summers said economic issues are key to US diplomacy and the administration prefers to take advantage of upcoming high-level US-China economic meetings in Beijing as well as G20 meetings later this spring to address the currency issue.
“Those are opportunities to engage with China, to engage with other countries that have large trade surpluses, other countries who think they can continue to rely on the United States as an importer of last resort,” Summers said.
Romer told NBC’s Meet the Press that the issue would be “high on the agenda,” but that ultimately the yuan “needs to be more influenced by market forces.”
The US strategy is to build momentum to cast the matter as one of persuading China to accept greater responsibility as a global trade partner and boost US exports.
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