The US has come close to labeling China as a manipulator of exchange rates. The undervalued renminbi allows for cheap exports, especially into their largest market: the EU. The last G-20 talks were a concerted effort to pressure China to allow the renminbi to rise, and last week the US got some, but not nearly enough. China has opened up to a crawling peg: a feckless economic move but a highly deft political move.
Since the last G-20 talks, the EU was emasculated by the Greek and Spanish crises, to which the US had to divert efforts away from nudging the Chinese into a more buoyant exchange rate. Even before loosening the exchange rate the renminbi had strengthened to the euro. Why would China allow their exports to become more expensive to their largest markets? China now has left the US flat on its heels with only a week to prepare complaints about the actual topic at hand—doing business in and with China—before the G-20 talks in Toronto, June 26-27. Brilliant timing.
Now, what is China’s end game in this? Obviously, the value of its currency is merely a tool in its larger political and economic strategy. So what does this mean and where is China going?
