WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Wednesday labeled Vietnam and Switzerland currency manipulators, accusing them for the first time of improperly intervening in foreign exchange markets and setting off a new economic confrontation with two trading partners. This is the third time that the Trump administration has taken the fairly unusual step of labeling a country a currency manipulator. The administration later dropped the official designation, but the Chinese yuan has remained on the Treasury Department’s list of currencies it is monitoring. The decision to designate Vietnam and Switzerland came at a moment of heightened volatility in foreign exchange markets, which have been rattled by the coronavirus pandemic. The report covers activity from July 2019 to June 2020, which include several months before the pandemic set in.

Source: New York Times December 16, 2020 13:30 UTC