美国国家公共电台 NPR Treasury Declares China A 'Currency Manipulator,' Escalating Trade War

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The stock market appears to be rebounding¹ a bit this morning, regaining² some of the ground it lost yesterday. And there were signs of a possible reprieve³ from the all-out trade war between the U.S. and China. China's central bank took steps overnight to prevent a freefall in the country's currency. A day earlier, the currency hit an 11-year low, prompting complaints from the U.S. Treasury⁴ Department. We've got NPR's Scott Horsley in the studio to explain what all this means. Hi, Scott.

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE⁵: Good morning, Rachel.

MARTIN: So yesterday was a bad day for the market, the worst all year right? What are we seeing today?

HORSLEY: Stocks have bounced back a little bit. Yesterday, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were off about 3 percent. So far this morning, they've regained⁶ a fraction of that. The Dow is up about four-tenths of a percent, the S&P up about six-tenths of a percent. The markets are still pretty jittery⁷, though. White House economic adviser⁸ Larry Kudlow tried to offer some reassurance⁹ this morning. He told CNBC there's still a chance of a truce¹⁰ in the U.S.-China trade war.

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LARRY KUDLOW: As difficult as things may be - and I know the markets are a bit volatile¹¹ - but the reality is we would like to negotiate. The president has said, you know, if you make good deal or good progress on a deal, maybe he'll be flexible on the tariffs¹². On the other hand, if there's no progress on the deal, then the tariffs might get worse. But he's open to it.

HORSLEY: The sell-off on Wall Street really began last week when the president announced plans to slap new tariffs on another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods. And the drop in stocks on Monday - the stocks dropped yesterday after China allowed its currency to fall.

MARTIN: Right. So what's happening with the Chinese currency now?

HORSLEY: China's central bank says it is committed to maintaining the basic stability of the currency and says it won't use devaluation to gain a competitive advantage - making its own exports more affordable¹³, for example. China's currency is still trading below seven to the dollar, which is a threshold that China had maintained for a long time. But for the moment at least, it looks like China's not going to just let the currency drop a lot below that. Last night, the Treasury Department officially labeled China a currency manipulator, which is a step the president has long called for but hadn't actually done until just now. The odd thing is most analysts¹⁴ say China didn't so much artificially depress its currency yesterday as just stop taking artificial steps to prop¹⁵ that currency up.

MARTIN: Can you explain, Scott, why these currency moves cause so much havoc¹⁶ in the market?

HORSLEY: Lower currency does make Chinese goods cheaper on the world market and puts U.S. manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage. But even beyond the actual currency moves, what the market seems to be reacting to in recent days is just a threat that both the U.S. and China are digging in in this trade war. Earlier this year, markets were kind of hoping there'd be a quick resolution. Now that's looking less likely. Jack¹⁷ Ablin of Cresset Capital in Chicago says that's causing a lot of volatility¹⁸.

JACK ABLIN: Any investor¹⁹ who had anticipated that President Xi and President Trump²⁰ would shake hands and reach some kind of an agreement by year end is probably scratching that scenario²¹ off their blackboard.

HORSLEY: Now, Larry Kudlow, always the sunny optimist²², tried to put the best face on this this morning, telling CNBC that there is going to be another round of negotiations²³ here in Washington next month. The last couple of rounds, however, have not yielded much progress. And the uncertainty²⁴ that's resulted from that has led to a slowdown both in the U.S. factory sector²⁵ - and, Rachel, this week there were signs the much-larger services side of the economy is slowing down, as well.

MARTIN: NPR's Scott Horsley for us. Thanks, Scott. We appreciate it.

HORSLEY: You're welcome.

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