subject: zen International Us Blinks On Currency Manipulator, China [print this page] Sources close to analysts at Zen International suggest that discretion may have been the better part of valor as far as the US vote on whether China is a currency manipulator is concerned.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that he was postponing the vote that was supposed to have taken place on April 15th but he reiterated his determination to encourage a more accommodating Chinese currency policy. http://www.ustreas.gov/
The Zen International analysts believe that the announcement came after pressure from some officials that a unilateral ruling by the United States on Chinas currency policy could cost the US dearly at a time it can ill-afford to further alienate the biggest buyer of its sovereign debt.
Mr. Geithner effectively said that he would revisit the issue multi-laterally at the forthcoming G20 meeting in Beijing to seek concessions from China.
Zen International believes that this approach is more likely to achieve the desired results given that many of the G20 nations concur with the US that China is deliberately suppressing its currency in order to keep the price of the goods it exports artificially low.
Delaying the report something of a regular occurrence under previous administrations is seen as pushing the decision to well after Chinese President, Hu Jintaos visit to Washington in two weeks, avoiding a difficult situation that could provoke a retaliatory response from China.
