US Secretary Complaints About Yuan Exchange Rate Controls

The U.S. treasury secretary pressed China on Tuesday to ease exchange rate controls and lower barriers to trade and investment.

Beijing in March widened the narrow band in which it allows its yuan to fluctuate against the U.S. dollar. But it retained controls that critics complain keep the yuan undervalued and give its exporters an unfair price advantage.

“It is important that China demonstrate a renewed commitment to move to a more market-determined exchange rate,” said Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew in a statement before a meeting with China’s top economic official, Premier Li Keqiang.

Lew appealed for a “more transparent exchange rate policy.”

Washington wants a more “open, balanced” trade and investment relationship, Lew said. He said that would include opening China’s markets wider to foreign investment and ensuring equal treatment for all companies.

Lew expressed similar sentiments earlier Tuesday in a meeting with a deputy premier, Wang Yang.

Communist leaders have promised to give entrepreneurs and market forces a bigger role in China’s state-dominated economy in hopes of making it more efficient and productive.

via Mainichi

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