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The U.S. Politics of Dealing With China
Next week is bash-China week in Washington. Some politicians are taking up two-by-fours; others are trying to dance around the issue.
On Monday, the Senate is going to take up new legislation backed by Democrats Charles Schumer of New York and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and a host of other lawmakers, which would penalize China for keeping its currency undervalued. In Washington political lingo that’s been called “currency manipulation,” although the new legislation dials that rhetoric down a notch by using a more technocratic term — “currency misalignment.”
Still, the idea is to whack China rhetorically and, possibly, with trade sanctions if it doesn’t let its currency rise more quickly.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been quick to adopt a squeeze-China policy. His economic plan has a section labeled “confronting China,” which includes labeling the country a currency manipulator — using the old-style language — imposing unilateral sanctions, and ordering the U.S. government not to buy Chinese goods and services.
In an early September Republican presidential debate, former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, tried to slap down Mr. Romney over his currency proposal, telling him, “now is not the time in a recession to enter a trade war.”
But in a television interview on Fox with Greta Van Susteren earlier this week, Mr. Huntsman changed course a bit. While still warning of a trade war, he said he’d sign the Schumer bill if he were president. Why? “You need to keep pressure on China,” he said.
“We need all the tools and leverage that we can muster,” Mr. Huntsman continued. “So the fact that it’s moving through Congress I think will put the Chinese certainly on notice.”
Mr. Huntsman’s press spokesman said his boss wasn’t being inconsistent. In the debate, he was reacting to Mr. Romney’s full set of proposals, the spokesman said. In the interview, Mr. Huntsman was responding to one piece of legislation.
For its part, the Obama administration continues to dance around the issue. On Friday it dispatched Undersecretary of Treasury Lael Brainard to China ostensibly to press the currency issue, as well as to discuss the agenda for a series of meetings of the Group of 20 nations.
But the White House hasn’t either endorsed or rejected the currency bill. In the past, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said that Congressional pressure on China helps generally, but he has declined to designate China as a currency violator — a determination that the Treasury must make twice a year. Mr. Geithner fears doing so would backfire.
–Bob Davis
PS:今天是一年一度的国庆节，又有九天连续的假期，希望大家在这个假期里过得充实愉快！HAPPY NATIONAL DAY!!!
大家先将就着看哈，这两天事情比较多，不能很好的处理论坛事务，请各位坛友以及对我们版块的热心会员多多见谅！~
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