No evidence to label China as 'currency manipulator': U.S economist

A senior researcher with the World Policy Institute is calling the U.S. Treasury's decision to label China "a currency manipulator" a bogus charge.

James Nolt, a senior research fellow with the World Policy Institute for over 20 years, says that the U.S. labeling of China as a "currency manipulator" stands on no evidence, and that the devaluation of the Yuan is in-time reflection of market volatility mostly triggered by U.S. zeal for a trade war.

[Photo: IC]

"I think that's a bogus charge. The irony there is the very fact that Trump's threatening of tariffs is what causes the Chinese currency to go down under market pressures; not that the (Chinese) government intends it to go down, in fact now they are intervening to try to prevent it from going down more; that the more Trump threatens China, the more he's going to get the result that he'll then use as evidence to threaten China even more, that is the more to drive down the currency, and then he'll use that effect of his own threats to justify further threats, so it's a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy," Nolt said.

He says China's Central Bank is just doing its job, which is to stabilize its currency.

"China's Central Bank does what most countries' central banks try to do, which is stabilize the currency,” Nolt added.

"When the currency falls too much, they try to prevent it from falling, when it rises too much, they try to prevent it from rising, that's more or less what central banks all around the world do, because stabilizing currency is good for regular trade relations, for predictability of business, and things like that. China's never had a policy of trying to drive its currency to extreme, which is what is implied by the charge of currency manipulation."

Nolt says the real intention behind the U.S. designating China as a "currency manipulator" is to help justify its tariff policies against China, and also to enable the U.S. side to gain more ground during the trade talks.

"I think mainly Trump wants to have an excuse to put more tariffs on, he believes tariffs are beneficial, and so he is picking a fight in order to justify more tariffs. I think Trumps believes in tariffs as effective in their own way and is successfully and useful economic policies. I don't see him giving up the trade war, I don't see a solution to the trade war, I think the trade war is indeed, as he said, he believes, that a trade war is winnable, so he intends to pursue it to what he thinks is victory," Nolt said.

Nolt also says he appreciates China's restraint and rational responses to the U.S. pressure and constant provocations, and he warns that fanning the fire for a trade war will crash world economy.