【彭博111114】‘Enough’s Enough’ on China Undervaluing Yuan: Obama

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‘Enough’s Enough’ on China Undervaluing Yuan: Obama
原文链接：http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-14/obama-says-enough-s-enough-on-china-s-undervalued-yuan-as-hu-pushes-back.html

                                                         
                    

U.S. President Barack   Obama, right, meets with Hu Jintao, China's president, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011. Obama said the U.S. and eight other Pacific nations have agreed on the outlines of a free trade accord and negotiations to work out the details will get underway this year. Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Pool via Bloomberg

                                                              
                    

Barack Obama, U.S. president, meets with Hu Jintao, China's president. Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Pool via Bloomberg

President Barack Obama said“enough’s enough” on the lack of movement by China on currencyvaluation, even if there has been “slight improvement” inrecent months.
“Changes are difficult for them politically, I get it,”Obama said at a news conference today that concluded a summitwith Asia-Pacific leaders in Hawaii. Still, he said, “enough’senough.”
Obama, who met yesterday with China’s President Hu Jintaoin Honolulu, said that as China’s influence rises leaders of theworld’s second largest economy must take more responsibility formaking sure trade is fair and that intellectual property rightsare respected.
As Obama seeks to reassert U.S. interests in Asia, he isusing increasingly strong language to press China on trade,currency and intellectual property. The U.S. contends China’scurrency is kept artificially low, putting American businessesat a disadvantage and driving up its trade surpluses.
China has pushed back against the pressure. After Obamatold Hu yesterday that the U.S. public and businesses werelosing patience with China’s policies, the Chinese ForeignMinistry released a statement saying the U.S. trade deficit andunemployment are not caused by the yuan exchange rate and alarge appreciation in the currency won’t solve U.S. problems.
Continuing Reform
“China’s foreign exchange policy is a responsible one,”Hu told Obama, according to the statement. The country will“continue reforming its exchange rate mechanism.”
The yuan has gained about 8 percent against the dollar innominal terms since the country ended a two-year peg to the U.S.currency in June, 2010. In real terms the gain has been morethan 10 percent, because inflation is higher in China than inthe U.S.
The yuan rose 0.04 percent to 6.3400 per dollar as of 10:30a.m. in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign Exchange TradeSystem.
During the news conference, Obama said the U.S. isexamining stronger sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.He said the U.S., Russia and China “agree on the objective”that Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. Hedeclined to say whether Hu and Russian President Dmitry Medvedevgave any indication they would support a new round of penalties.
Sanctions Push Russia and China have resisted efforts to impose tightersanctions on Iran at the United Nations. The InternationalAtomic Energy Agency has concluded that Iran, the second-largestoil producer in the Organization of Petroleum ExportingCountries after Saudi Arabia, has continued working on nuclearweapons capability until at least last year.
Obama said the sanctions that have already been imposedhave “enormous bite.”
He refused to directly comment on criticism of his approachto Iran leveled by the Republican candidates running for theirparty’s nomination to oppose him in next year’s election.
On domestic issues, Obama said the bipartisan congressionalsupercommittee working to narrow the U.S. budget deficit must“bite the bullet” and come up with a plan that includes bothcutting spending and increasing revenue.