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Trump said last
week in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that the
dollar was "getting too strong", and backed away from labeling
China a currency manipulator.
Mnuchin had played down that comment on the dollar in an
interview first published late on Monday in the FT. In a more
detailed version published on Wednesday, he directly rejected
the idea that Trump was trying to talk down the dollar, saying
"Absolutely not, absolutely not."
The dollar gained after Mnuchin's initial remarks late on
Monday.
But on Wednesday the euro hit a three-week high as the dollar
was weakened by doubts over a fiscal boost promised by the
president and by the pricing out of bets on three U.S. Federal
Reserve interest rates hikes this year.
Mnuchin also said the Trump administration did not deem foreign
countries to be manipulating their currency if they did so in a
way that benefited Washington.
"To manipulate a currency you have to be doing it to
disadvantage the United States," he said.
Trump campaigned on a promise to label China a currency
manipulator - something that could pave the way for higher U.S.
tariffs - but his administration decided not to do so in a
report published on April 13.
The Treasury report recognized what many analysts have said over
the past year, namely that China has recently intervened in
foreign exchange markets to prop up the value of the yuan, not
push it lower to make Chinese exports cheaper.
Finance ministers and central bank chiefs meet in Washington
this week for the International Monetary Fund's twice-yearly
meetings. Mnuchin said addressing currency swings was "one of
the IMF's most important roles".
(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Louise Ireland and John
Stonestreet)
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