WASHINGTON — The United States took the rare step on Monday of formally labeling China a currency manipulator, as trade relations between the two countries continued to spiral downward following President Donald Trumps decision last week to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods.
“In recent days, China has taken concrete steps to devalue its currency, while maintaining substantial foreign exchange reserves despite active use of such tools in the past,” the Treasury Department said in a statement that followed the Peoples Bank of Chinas decision to let its currency, the renminbi, fall to the lowest level in more than a decade.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made the determination acting “under the auspices of President Trump,” the department said. Mnuchin will now “engage with the International Monetary Fund to eliminate the unfair competitive advantage created by Chinas latest actions,” it added.
Previous administrations have been loathe to label China a currency manipulator, arguing it was better to work with other countries to put diplomatic pressure on Beijing. The last time Treasury designated any country as a currency manipulator was in the early 1990s, when China was named.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to formally label China as a currency manipulator on his first day in office. But he declined to do that, reflecting the prevailing view at the time that Beijing was not devaluing its currency for an unfair trade advantage.
Since then, the Treasury Department has kept China on a currency watch list in five semi-annual reports issued under the Trump administration, but had not formally labeled it a currency manipulator. The next report is due on Oct. 15, but Mnuchin acted ahead of schedule.
The move came after Beijing fired back at Trumps decision to slap tariffs on more Chinese goods by halting purchases of U.S. farm products and letting its currency weaken to 7 yuan against the dollar.
The presidents decision last week to impose a new 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods was “a serious violation” of the agreement between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a meeting in Osaka, Japan on June 29, Chinas Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
China “will not rule out import tariffs on newly purchased U.S. agricultural products after August 3, and Chinese related companies have suspended purchasing U.S. agricultural products,” the statement said.
Trump announced the latest round of tariffs after his trade negotiators returned from talks last week in Shanghai frustrated that China had not made any new proposals in negotiations aimed at resolving U.S. concerns over Beijings trade practices and industrial policies.
The new duties are scheduled to take effect on September 1 unless the two sides are able to patch things up before then. But on Monday, that possibility seemed increasingly remote.
The trade tensions drove stocks lower Monday. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the broader S&P 500 fell around 3 percent, extending losses from last week. Soybean prices were also under pressure at the Chicago Board of Trade.
Hours before the Chinese Commerce Ministry announcement, Trump was already upset with the decision by the Peoples Bank of China to allow the value of Chinas yuan, officially known as the renminbi, to fall.
“China dropped the price of their currency to an almost a historic low,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Its called currency manipulation. Are you listening Federal Reserve? This is a major violation which will greatly weaken China over time!”
U.S. officials had no immediate comment on the Chinese commerce ministry statement. However, U.S. farm sales to China are already down sharply this year a result of the trade war.
The U.S. Agriculture Department has forecast American farm exports to China at just $6.5 billion in fiscal 2019, which ends Sept. 30. Thats down from $16.3 billion last year and from more than $20 billion annually when Barack Obama was president.
With his early morning tweet, Trump lashed out at two of his favorite targets at the same time: China and the Federal Reserve.
Hes also been heaping pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to boost the U.S. economy. Last week, the Fed cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, citing the uncertainty caused by Trumps trade policies as one reason for the move. Lower interest tends to drive down the value of the dollar.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, in a “Fox News Sunday” interview, expressed frustration over a 10 percent decline in the value of the yuan since Trump started imposing tariffs on China over a year ago.
At the same time, Navarro also argued the drop in value of the currency means American consumers will not see major price increases on goods coming from China when the new 10 percent tariff goes into effect on Sept. 1.
“Were talking about putting 10 percent tariffs on a remaining $300 billion of goods,” he said. “Were just getting back to where we were before China started manipulating the currency.”
