Apr 12, 2017 - Politics & Policy

Trump says China is not a currency manipulator

Evan Vucci / AP

President Trump no longer plans to label China a currency manipulator, despite repeated campaign promises to do so "on day one," according to an interview published Thursday in the Wall Street Journal. And he was pretty blunt about it:

They're not currency manipulators.

What changed? Now that Trump is actually president, he realizes that such a public rebuke of China could endanger talks over bigger issues like North Korea. Plus, China stopped undervaluing its currency years ago.

Other highlights from the WSJ interview:

  • Trump is open to renominating Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen when her term expires next year. He also plans to soon nominate a Fed vice chair and the community banking seat.
  • He now supports the U.S. Export-Import Bank, which is another shift from campaign rhetoric.
  • Trump thinks "our dollar is getting too strong."
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