US Treasury decides against labeling China a currency manipulator

The US Treasury declined to label China a currency manipulator on Tuesday but has kept it on its economic watchlist, reported the Financial Times.

The Treasury’s decision not to label China as a currency manipulator will avoid a further worsening of tensions between China and the United States following the US’ decision to boost tariffs on $200 billion of imports to 25%, said the FT.

The department said it would “continue its enhanced bilateral engagement with China regarding exchange rate issues,” partly because the Chinese currency has fallen against the dollar by 8% over the past year, alongside what Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin described as an “extremely large and widening bilateral trade surplus.”