Schumer, Graham Push Bill to Pressure China on Yuan
Business Week – March 16 (Bloomberg) — Senators Charles Schumer, Lindsey Graham and Sherrod Brown revived U.S. legislation that would increase pressure on China to raise the value of its currency.
The draft bill, similar to a measure considered in 2007, would require the Treasury Department to determine if a nation has a currency misaligned with the dollar. The bipartisan proposal also would make it easier for companies to seek import duties to compensate for an undervalued currency.
“President Obama has outlined a plan to double exports but you simply can’t do that if you don’t address the currency issue,” Brown, an Ohio Democrat, said at a news conference in Washington today. “China’s current policy is out-and-out protectionism.”
Lawmakers are prodding President Barack Obama to take a tougher line on China’s currency policies, which have held the yuan’s valuation at rates more favorable globally to Chinese exporters. Schumer, a New York Democrat, said the U.S. is losing export opportunities and jobs, and China’s policies toward the yuan, or renminbi, can only be changed by legal force.
