Economics

Trump’s Yuan Manipulator Tag May Be More Politics Than Practical

  • Label could just be meaniningless phrase: ex-Treasury’s Truman
  • Treasury, IMF currently don’t designate China a manipulator

Is a U.S.-China Trade War on the Horizon?

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Donald Trump, the candidate, made much about China ostensibly influencing its currency for an advantage in trade. As U.S. president, he could find that an official designation of China as a manipulator actually may entail more legalese than he’d like.

Just ask Edwin Truman, who as a temporary counselor to former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner saw first hand the impact of labeling China a manipulator. After Geithner in 2009 said in a written response to a Senate committee that China was manipulatingBloomberg Terminal its currency, he had to spend weeks walking back on those remarks because it wasn’t the policy.