미 상무부, 환율조작국에 상계관세 부과 추진<br /><br />The Trump administration considers slapping duties on goods from countries found to have undervalued currencies.<br />Such a move would not only hamper Washington's ongoing trade negotiations with Beijing, it could have an impact on South Korea as well.<br />For details let's turn to our Kim Hyesung. <br />The U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday that it's proposing a new rule to impose tariffs on goods from countries found to have undervalued currencies. <br /> Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement that the new rule would put foreign exporters on notice that the U.S. can countervail currency subsidies that harm its industries. <br />He added that foreign nations would no longer be able to use currency policies to the disadvantage of American workers and businesses. <br />President Donald Trump has long threatened to label China a currency manipulator, saying undervaluing the yuan against the greenback made Chinese goods artificially cheaper abroad. <br />But the new rule could also put goods from other countries including South Korea, Japan, India, Germany and Switzerland, at risk of higher tariffs. <br />Those five countries, along with China, were all listed on the Treasury Department’s semi-annual currency report’s “monitoring list,” which tracks currency market interventions, high global current account surpluses and high bilateral trade surpluses. <br />The Treasury Department was expected to release its biannual currency report in April but it has yet to do so.<br /> The latest announcement by the U.S. Commerce Department puts further pressure on Beijing amid escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China as they work on a trade deal.<br />The Chinese yuan has weakened more than three percent this month to near seven yuan a dollar. <br /> The Commerce Department did not yet outline the specific criteria that it would use to evaluate whether the U.S. pricing of a product was artificially low because of currency undervaluation.<br />Kim Hyesung, Arirang News. <br />
