Trump calls China \u00ab\u00a0grand champions\u00a0\u00bb of currency manipulation, but Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he’s not \u00ab\u00a0making any judgments\u00a0\u00bb yet.<\/b>
Trump revived a regular theme from his campaign on Thursday, describing China as \u00ab\u00a0grand champions\u00a0\u00bb of currency manipulation in an interview with Reuters.
Those comments came on the same day that his Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin , said the administration isn’t \u00ab\u00a0making any judgments\u00a0\u00bb on China’s currency yet.
During his campaign, Trump repeatedly accused China of devaluing the yuan to boost its exports, thereby killing U. S. manufacturing jobs. He pledged that the Treasury Department would officially label China a \u00ab\u00a0currency manipulator\u00a0\u00bb on his first day in the White House.
Related: Why is Trump backing off his China threats?
More than a month into the Trump administration, no such move has been made — and Mnuchin’s comments Thursday on CNBC suggest it won’t happen anytime soon.
\u00ab\u00a0We have a process within Treasury where we go through and look at currency manipulation across the board,\u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0We’ll go through that process. We’ll do that as we have in the past. \u00a0\u00bb
That means no official declaration until April at the earliest, which is when the department’s next report on foreign currencies is due.
But Trump objected to the suggestion that he’s toned down his stance on China.
\u00ab\u00a0I think they’re grand champions at manipulation of currency,\u00a0\u00bb he told Reuters. \u00ab\u00a0So I haven’t held back. We’ll see what happens. \u00a0\u00bb
Related: Trump didn’t go after China on Day One
It’s yet another example of Trump’s statements differing markedly from those of his cabinet members. Also on Thursday, Trump and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly offered sharply contrasting views on U. S. trade with Mexico.
Mnuchin, a former hedge fund manager and partner at Goldman Sachs ( GS ) , is facing the difficult job of squaring his boss’ view of China’s currency with reality.
Experts widely agree that hitting China with the currency manipulator label doesn’t make sense anymore. Beijing has actually been spending a fortune in recent years to stop the yuan from falling too rapidly, which could spark chaos in global markets.
Since mid-2014, China has spent about $1 trillion propping up the yuan — also known as the renminbi — as its economy has slowed and huge sums of money have poured out of the country.
The U. S. hasn’t labeled China a currency manipulator since 1994. Although the designation doesn’t trigger immediate penalties, some experts fear it could be used as a first step toward imposing the heavy tariffs that Trump threatened China with during his campaign. That approach would probably lead to a trade war.
Related: Chinese president says no one can win a trade war
China said Friday it \u00ab\u00a0has no intention of gaining trade advantages by devaluing its currency on a competitive basis. \u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0We hope that relevant parties can view the renminbi exchange rate issue in an objective light and do more that contributes to mutual trust and cooperation,\u00a0\u00bb said Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The International Monetary Fund said in July that it thought the yuan’s value was \u00ab\u00a0broadly in line with fundamentals. \u00a0\u00bb
The Chinese currency dropped 7% against the dollar in 2016, but it’s climbed back more than 1% so far this year.
Many economists expect it to gradually decline against the dollar over the rest of 2017.
— Tim Schwarz contributed to this article.<\/p>\n