FX.co ★ US to impose duties on countries that manipulate currencies

The White House is considering duties on countries which are trying to manipulate currencies in their own interest. This refers to an artificial undervaluation in the currency and the lack of its proper support. The US Department of Commerce proposed a draft bill that would allow the government to impose additional countervailing duties on goods from these countries. This move may be aimed at the countries exporting goods and services such as Germany, Japan, South Korea, and China, or at natural resource suppliers such as Russia. “Foreign states would no longer be able to use currency policies to the disadvantage of American workers and businesses,” US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.

According to the draft law, the normal countervailing duty process will be changed. Now new criteria for currency undervaluation will be taken into account. Trump administration has criticized the Chinese monetary policy for a long time and it is confident that the yuan remains extremely undervalued against the US dollar, even with the impact of the trade war on China's currency. Just a month ago, US President Donald Trump openly accused Russia and China of unacceptable actions, saying that they "are playing the Currency Devaluation game as the U. S. keeps raising interest rates". Trump has repeatedly proved that those who follow unfair practices, will eventually have to pay double.