Taiwan and Vietnam were amongst those that avoided being labeled currency manipulators in Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s first semi-annual foreign exchange report despite exceeding thresholds.
Taiwan, Vietnam, as well as Switzerland, dodged Washington’s currency manipulator label despite exceeding its 2015 currency thresholds during 2020.
This includes more than US$20 billion of bilateral trade surplus with the U.S., foreign currency intervention exceeding 2 percent of gross domestic product and a global current account surplus exceeding 2 percent of GDP.
Nonetheless, the U.S. Treasury claims that there was insufficient evidence to make manipulation designations.
Trump Reversal
The U.S. Treasury’s latest remarks contrasted with those made under the Donald Trump administration which called Vietnam and Switzerland currency manipulators in the previous report released in December last year.
«Treasury is working tirelessly to address efforts by foreign economies to artificially manipulate their currency values that put American workers at an unfair disadvantage,» Yellen said in a statement, adding that enhanced engagements would be made to address the underlying causes of currency undervaluation and external imbalances.
