China has let the yuan strengthen to ease trade tensions with Trump. Image: YouTube Screengrab

TOKYO – If US President Donald Trump plans to make a big issue of the yuan on Thursday, Xi Jinping’s team just complicated things for the White House.

The yuan started the week at its strongest level since July 2022. The People’s Bank of China is guiding the currency of the second-biggest economy higher in the days ahead of Trump’s high-stakes faceoff with President Xi.

It followed PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng’s move to ratchet up the daily currency fixing for an eighth straight day, the streak unseen since 2023.

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