The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a report last week that reviewed and assessed the policies of major U.S. trading partners.
The Treasury’s semiannual Report to Congress on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States concluded that no major U.S. trading partner manipulated the rate of exchange between its currency and the U.S. dollar to gain an unfair competitive advantage in international trade in 2023.
The major U.S. trade partners comprised about 78 percent of U.S. foreign trade in goods and services, during the four quarters through December 2023.
The report also revealed that no major trading partner met all three criteria for enhanced analysis under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 in 2023.
“Treasury continues to promote policies that support stronger and more balanced global growth that benefits American workers, including through close engagement with major trading partners on currency-related issues,” Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said.
The Biden Administration strongly opposes attempts by its trading partners to artificially manipulate currency values to gain unfair advantage over American workers.
Currently, seven economies are on the Treasury’s “Monitoring List” of major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency practices and macroeconomic policies. These seven economies include China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Germany.
Further, the report reiterated Treasury’s call for increased transparency from China. China an outlier among major economies and warrants close monitoring for its failure to publish foreign exchange intervention and broader lack of transparency around key features of its exchange rate policy.