Posted on 06/30/2005 8:44:00 PM PDT by Righty_McRight
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US administration and Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan believe China is set to revalue its currency, two US senators said after agreeing to shelve an anti-China tariffs bill for now.
Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham, after a meeting with Treasury Secretary John Snow and Greenspan, agreed to put off a late-July vote on their tariffs bill after being assured that a revaluation is coming.
The Senators had been assured that the revaluation "could well occur in a very short while, in the next few months", said Schumer, an outspoken Democrat who has been campaigning for strong US action against Chinese trade practices.
He said the top officials gave an undertaking to him and Graham, a Republican, that China should shortly "be on the path to revaluing its currency".
"Their view that this is for real is very meaningful to us," Schumer told reporters.
"What we have been told is that there are major forces in Chinese society in the government and in the economy that realise that their policy on the currency doesn't work for China, doesn't work for the United States, and doesn't work for the world."
Graham said Greenspan made "a very persuasive case."
The Senate vote was set to take place on July 27 on Schumer and Graham's proposal for a tariff of 27.5 percent on all Chinese imports unless Beijing quickly takes steps to reform its currency regime.
Snow and Greenspan have argued strongly that such a tariff would backfire on the US economy, which has come to rely on cheap Chinese goods and massive purchases of US government bonds by Beijing.
But the US administration agrees with congressional critics that China has kept its currency, the yuan, artificially low against the dollar to foster its exports at the cost of US industries.
Schumer warned: "Again we retain the option that if nothing happens, there will be a vote" a week before the Congressional session ended this year.
Although seen as violating World Trade Organization rules, their bill surprisingly won two-thirds support in the Senate in a procedural vote in April.
China has repeatedly said that it will not cave in to the pressure, arguing that the gaping deficit in the US balance of payments is the fault of domestic weaknesses in the world's biggest economy.
Finance Minister Jin Renqing on Sunday rejected the prospect of US tariffs, arguing that dialogue was "the only correct way" to resolve trade disputes.
Snow welcomed the senators' agreement to put off their bill.
"I appreciate the accommodation shown by Senators Graham and Schumer in agreeing to postpone a vote on the China tariff legislation," he said in a statement.
"It is important that China move to a more flexible exchange rate regime, we have urged them to do so, and they have agreed that it is in their interest to adopt greater exchange rate flexibility," he said.
"While it is in China's interest that they do so, it is also in the interest of the global adjustment process. I believe that our longstanding efforts are beginning to come to fruition and we are making progress toward achieving this goal."
The US China Business Council, the principal group of US corporations engaged in business with China, urged Beijing to move forward "with sensible interim steps" to introduce exchange rate flexibility now that the threat of punitive legislation had receded.
The senators took "a responsible step" in giving China more time to revalue its currency," said Tracy Mullin, the president of the US National Retail Federation.
Damn, just as I was getting familiar with Walmart, and buying underwear and t-shirts and socks, and short pants there, the prices are going to go up. Yes I buy all my chothes at either Nordstroms or Walmart, or once in awhile Costco. You figure it out. And yes, I hate buying clothes. Some of my socks and underwear and t-shirts have holes/tears in them.
Pssst! Congress! Bridge...Brooklyn...Interested?
A socialist and a RINO. Be afraid.
Yup, that's us. Makes you proud of your country right?
So this Chuck the F--k Shoomer fellow is more than willing to take the word of a commie/fascist regime over that of the Republicans and the President on any one of a thousand issues?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.