The US Treasury Department has a warning for the emerging world: The export-your-way-to-prosperity template has fallen out of favour. In its semi-annual assessment of trading partners’ foreign-exchange policies, the US stopped short of labelling Taiwan, Vietnam and Switzerland as currency manipulators, even though they met the criteria. Over time, the focus shifted to China, whose authorities play a big role in managing the nation’s currency. They also examine the bilateral trade surplus. “If they want to reduce our trade surplus with them, then we could just stop selling them our chips," he joked, “But they need them!"

Source: Mint April 21, 2021 18:11 UTC