July 2nd 2005
John Snow: China will revalue
Secretary of the Treasury John Snow has renewed his guarantee that China will revalue its currency, going so far as to say it would happen within the next few months. Snow issued the statement to a small group of American politicians, who were drafting a bill that would effectively impose a 27.5% across-the-board tariff on all Chinese imports, provided the Chinese government failed to revalue the Yuan within a reasonable time frame. The Senators who were sponsoring the bill agreed to postpone a vote on it, which was originally scheduled to occur within the next few weeks, in light of Snow’s commentary. In an unofficial vote, 67 senators approved the bill, indicating it was likely to pass in its official vote. The Senators agreed that it would be better for Sino-US relations if China ‘naturally’ decided to revalue the Yuan, rather than as a result of foreign pressure.
"They have convinced us that the likelihood of real progress in China on currency revaluation is very real and could well occur in a very short while, in the next few months," Schumer said. "If we can get there by accommodation, so much the better."
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