July 08,2010

Grassley: Administration Should Act on China Currency

M E M O R A N D U M

To:       Reporters and Editors
Re:       Treasury report on China currency
Da:      Thursday, July 8, 2010

Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance, today made the following comment on the Treasury Department’s semiannual report on currency exchange rates.

“Secretary Geithner finally released Treasury’s semiannual report on currency exchange rates, which was supposed to have been delivered to Congress by April 15th.  As expected, the Administration has again failed to identify China as a currency manipulator.  China recently allowed a modest crawling peg of its currency exchange rates, but overall China’s currency is tightly controlled and mostly removed from market forces.  So Treasury’s determination doesn’t match the facts.  I reiterate my call for the Administration to bring a case against China’s currency manipulation at the World Trade Organization under article 15 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.   Everyone knows China manipulates its currency.  If the President continues to avoid acknowledging China’s currency manipulation and fails to address it in a meaningful way, Congress will have to act.”