US ups pressure over RMB peg
14 September 2004
The United States has upped pressure on Beijing to bring a quick end to the RMB/dollar peg. On a visit to Beijing, US Treasury Department emissary Paul Speltz said a move to a more flexible exchange policy was a question of �when, not if�. Acknowledging that Chinese officials were working on procedures for such a change, he said: �We would like to see this move faster. This is the time to do it." The Bush administration has been putting increasing pressure on Beijing to drop the decade-old peg, a system which US manufacturers say gives Chinese exports an unfair advantage, fueling a trade deficit that reached a record US$124 billion last year.