White House reiterates China is not manipulating its currency

WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday reiterated that China has not manipulated its currency since US President Donald Trump took office in January.

"They haven't been manipulating their currency since he's (Trump) been in office. That's a fact," White House press secretary Sean Spicer told a regular press briefing, in response to a question about US Treasury Department's decision not to label China as a currency manipulator last week.

"I think that the president's tweet said clearly to do so at this time would not be prudent," the White House spokesperson said, adding that labeling China as a currency manipulator now would not be very productive in addressing the Korean Peninsula situation.

US Treasury Department on Friday declared that no major trading partners of the United States, including China, met the standard of manipulating its currency.

In an interview with Wall Street Journal last week, Trump also said China hasn't been manipulating its currency for months, a sharp reversal from his campaign rhetoric.

Many economists have argued that the Chinese currency, RMB, has been at equilibrium level in recent years. Brad Setser, an expert with Council on Foreign Relations, expected that the RMB exchange rate would remain stable at current level with China's current account surplus and its efforts to deal with capital outflows.