US makes vain attempt to win trade war

The day after the 12th round of Sino-US trade talks concluded on July 31 in Shanghai, the United States administration announced it would impose 10 percent tariffs on another $300 billion of Chinese goods starting Sept 1, ignoring the fact that the two sides had called the talks "constructive" and agreed to hold the next round of talks in Washington. Not content with that, the US administration later labeled China a "currency manipulator" to put "maximum pressure" on China in order to achieve its selfish, narrow goals.

To begin with, judging by the three standards the US Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 sets to define a "currency manipulator", China is certainly not one. Changes in the yuan's exchange rate are normal fluctuations due to changing market expectations. The White House's unilateral and protectionist moves, including arbitrarily imposing additional tariffs on Chinese goods, have lowered market expectations. And the yuan weakened beyond 7 per US dollar in response to the market's reaction to the US' unilateral moves. As such, the US has no right to label China a "currency manipulator".

Second, since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, China, as a responsible major power, has endeavored to keep the yuan's exchange rate stable, that is, within a reasonable range. Neither during the Asian financial crisis nor during the 2008 global financial crisis did China manipulate its currency to sustain, let alone, boost the economy.