<<'China manipulates currency'.>> The tactic of "slowing down" China's economy worked only for a moment. They are coming back to China!!
Election years are like war years. Truth is the victim. I am about to lose another pizza to Jay, if the RMB is not revalued until Dec. 31st!!!
Jay, at least delaying the pizza payment, will give me the possibility to see the baby when I go there to pay them.
'China manipulates currency'
WASHINGTON - An alliance of labour, industry and farm groups filed a complaint on Thursday charging China with creating unfair trade conditions and undermining US workers and industry by manipulating its currency.
The case, brought by a new group called the China Currency Coalition, is a first step that could lead to sanctions against China by the World Trade Organisation - if the government of President George W Bush accepts and champions the cause.
The Chinese economy is becoming an issue in the US presidential campaign, with both Bush and his rival, Senator John Kerry, discussing the issue on the campaign trail.
China's yuan has been fixed at 8.28 to the dollar for the past 10 years. With the Chinese economy so strong, this has given Chinese exporters a major advantage on world markets.
"Every day, every week, every month, more US jobs are lost to unfair Chinese competition," said David Harquist, an international trade lawyer with the group. "More US companies file bankruptcy or are forced to move their operations overseas, primarily to China, to compete."
American "are angry and frustrated because our own government is simply failing to manage our important trade relationship with China in a way that gives our businesses and workers a fighting chance to compete fairly", said Richard Trumka, secretary of the AFL-CIO labour umbrella group, another coalition member.
The complaint was filed with the US Trade Representative's office under Section 301 of the US Trade Act, which grants the office authority to impose sanctions and countermeasures.
The US trade deficit with China reached $124-billion in 2003, according to government figures.
According to data gathered by the group, Chinese imports are undervalued by 40%, and US exports to China overvalued by 40%.
Harquist said that Chinese official trade data is manipulated: although Beijing claims a $46-billion trade surplus, they really have a $200-billion surplus if import and export data from all of China's trade partners are analysed.
"China is fixing the numbers, and they won't own up to it," Harquist said.
USTR spokesman Richard Mills rejected the petition as "reckless".
"The remedy it seeks of a 40% across the board tariff would put up walls around America, hurting US exports, destroying US jobs and endangering our economic recovery," Mills said.
The Bush administration rejected a similar petition in April, describing it then as "a retreat into economic isolationism", Mills said.
Rob Nichols with the US Treasury Department said US officials "recognise the importance of the China exchange rate issue" - and that because of pressure from Bush officials "the Chinese have agreed that making this transition to a market-based exchange rate is one of their top priorities".
In late July, while campaigning in the midwestern state of Ohio, Bush called on China to loosen its currency peg to the dollar. "We've been working with China to put fair policy in place. Just give us a chance to compete, is all we're asking," he said at the time.
Kerry in March promised to "hold countries like China accountable when they manipulate their currency to inflate their exports and depress ours" - a vow he has repeated.
Coalition members include the American Iron and Steel Institute, textile manufacturers, and some of the country's largest labor unions, including the Teamsters and unions representing miners, auto workers, metal workers, and electrical and communication workers.
The US government has 45 days to accept or reject the petition - which means the decision must be taken by October 25, just days ahead of the November 2 presidential vote.
In June, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said that Chinese foreign exchange reserves easily topped $400-billion.
"I think that over the longer run, it will become very apparent ... that intervention of the type that they had been doing has not been helpful to (China)," Greenspan said. "I think, in their own interests, that that is going to change."
AFP
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