China’s Foreign Ministry has pretty much had it with Donald Trump.
Join the party.
Speaking about his trade policies on Tuesday, the presumptive Republican candidate for the US presidency called China the “grand master” of currency devaluation and said if elected he would label Beijing a currency manipulator.
Breaking with their strategy of not directly criticizing Trump, the Foreign Ministry responded on Wednesday by saying the yuan’s exchange rate was not the reason for unbalanced trade ties with the US and more to the point it said Trump’s trade policies are irrational.
For much of his campaign, Trump has focused on unfair trade deals, which he said cost American jobs. On Tuesday, he said that if elected, he would direct his treasury secretary to label China a currency manipulator, a move he said “should have been done years ago.” It’s this kind of tough talk that has helped him win voter support.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei responded to Trump’s comments in a statement on its website: “China-U.S. trade cooperation is the ballast and propeller of bilateral relations. Its essence is mutual benefit. The yuan exchange rate is not the reason for unbalanced China-US trade.”
“We hope some individuals on the US side can objectively view China-US trade relations, do more to benefit mutual trust and cooperation, and jointly safeguard the healthy and stable development of China-US trade relations,” Hong added.
The yuan is currently hovering near a 5-1/2-year low against the dollar.
The US government has warned China that any reversion to its past exchange rate policy of keeping the yuan artificially low would trigger new US-China tensions.
