US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said currency manipulation will be a focus in the upcoming trade talk with China. He said yesterday that “I expect the governor of the People’s Bank of China to come over for these talks… So part of the conversations we will be having with them is around currency and currency manipulation.”
He added that “If the RMB depreciates 15 percent and you put on a 15 percent tariff, that means that U.S. companies can buy in dollars items 15 percent cheaper. So the fact that they buy things 15 percent cheaper means that China is paying for indeed the tariff”. And, “it really is simple math with depreciation of the RMB.”
Separately, Mnuchin also told Fox yesterday that there was a “conceptual” agreement on enforcement of the agreement. “They’re coming here. I take that as a sign of good faith that they want to continue to negotiate, and we’re prepared to negotiate,” Mnuchin said.
