US may tread softly on key currency issue

NEW YORK - The US may not risk labeling China as a currency manipulator any time soon as any such move may lead to all-round trade wars between Washington and Beijing, experts on both sides of the exchange rate divide have indicated.

"There has been some speculation that the administration might wait until after the Strategic and Economic Dialogue (scheduled for May) to make a statement on manipulation," said Evan A. Feigenbaum, senior fellow for East, Central and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, in an interview with China Daily.

"But that can be made any time down the road," and not necessarily right after the talks, Feigenbaum, a former US foreign affairs official, said.