Exclusive: U.S. Treasury's Mnuchin watching Chinese yuan weakness for manipulation



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By David Lawder

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – The United States is monitoring the recent weaknesses of the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Reuters on Friday.

Mnuchin said in an interview in Sao Paulo, Brazil, that the yuan's weakness would be reviewed as part of the U.S. Treasury's semi-annual report on currency manipulation. The report is due on Oct. 15 and will be based on activity for the first six months of 2018.

Asked whether it is concerned that China may be using its currency as a weapon in an escalating trade fight with the United States, Mnuchin said: "I'm not saying that it's a weapon or not a weapon."

"We're going to be able to make them worse." the currency, "he said.

Mnuchin's comments raised the specter of designating China as a foreign currency Trump administration in 2017. Trump's campaign he has been brought back to China in the past, and he has had a say in the past, and he has been told that it was a maneuvering

Mnuchin said the reason for applying the label on China is not a currency manipulator.

Various US lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, and manufacturers in the past, have long complained that China is deliberating in favor of international trade.

Mnuchin said he would be discussing China's non-market economy policies with Group of Seven Allies Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Buenos Aires this weekend.

Trump, in a tweet, on Friday accused China and the European Union of manipulating their currencies, saying it is "taking away our big competitive edge."

He also repeated his complaints that the Federal Reserve's interest rates were causing the dollar to rise, and said he was ready to impose US tariffs on all $ 500 billion in goods imported from China.

China's Yuan, Bought It, Lost 7.5 percent of its value since the end of the first quarter, hitting a year low of 6.767 to the dollar and marking its biggest 90-day drop-dead exchange rates were unified in 1994.

Mnuchin said the Trump administration was open to a trade in China, but only if China was sincere in making significant changes to its technology transfer and joint ventures

"We want them to play by the rules, and we do not need them," Mnuchin said . "These are issues that are completely consistent across the G7."

Mnuchin said he would be discussing China's non-market economy policies with Group of Seven Allies Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan

DEAL ON REVIEWING FOREIGN ACQUISITIONS

Mnuchin also confirmed that the US Congress has reached a conclusion on the subject of foreign trade.

Mnuchin said he was pleased with the final product,

Mnuchin had persuaded Trump last month to use the China-specific investment restrictions

"It was our desire to have the proper It may be necessary, "he said.

Mnuchin also said the Treasury was open to the possibility of lifting the penalties on Russian aluminum giant. He said it was not the Trump administration's objective to put the company's business to the test of Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Ross Colvin and Leslie Adler)

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