The U.S. Treasury Department says it has once again put Japan on a list of major trading partners that it monitors for potentially unfair foreign exchange practices.
A country would meet all three if it had a trade surplus with the United States of at least $15 billion, a current account surplus of at least 3 percent of gross domestic product, and if it had engaged in persistent, one-sided intervention in foreign exchange markets.
Being on the list isn’t a bad thing. You only have to have two of the three things listed in order to be on the list and any of our major trading partners would automatically be on it. It’s simply a mechanism for the US government to have reports on other economies it does business with.
Only if you hit all three points. Otherwise it’s a monitoring list. It’s just for keeping track of finances and better understanding economies of partners and why they’re larger traders to the US. It’s in the US’ best interest to understand a major trading partners economy and currency, and it helps us better prepare for future trade agreements.
In no realm does the US consider Japan, Germany, or Singapore a rival. China is the only “rival” in there. The other countries don’t have the actual quantity of people or land size to be an economic rival. At best they could have a higher standard of living based on PPP or GDP per capita, but not anything that would overtake the US. You’re trying to turn a simple evaluation tool that every government should be using on its trading partners into some maniacal weapon of economic doom. There are lots of partners in this world. Just like everyone else if you act like everyone is an enemy then all you ever see is targets.
Do you really think the US doesn’t view the world solely through the lens of rivalry? That’s the underlying logic of capitalism: there are only winners and losers. Cooperation and partnership are temporary arrangements of convenience, they can always change and lists like this are one of the ways the US determines who’s next.
That’s why they use such an inflammatory term like “manipulator” - it’s meant to intimidate.
It doesn’t matter if any of them present a legitimate threat, all that matters is they’re in the way.
Being on the list isn’t a bad thing. You only have to have two of the three things listed in order to be on the list and any of our major trading partners would automatically be on it. It’s simply a mechanism for the US government to have reports on other economies it does business with.
There are consequences for being on the list, though, so it’s not just an internal accounting term.
Only if you hit all three points. Otherwise it’s a monitoring list. It’s just for keeping track of finances and better understanding economies of partners and why they’re larger traders to the US. It’s in the US’ best interest to understand a major trading partners economy and currency, and it helps us better prepare for future trade agreements.
Hypocrisy is always in the hypocrite’s best interest. It’s for keeping track of rivals. There are no real partners.
In no realm does the US consider Japan, Germany, or Singapore a rival. China is the only “rival” in there. The other countries don’t have the actual quantity of people or land size to be an economic rival. At best they could have a higher standard of living based on PPP or GDP per capita, but not anything that would overtake the US. You’re trying to turn a simple evaluation tool that every government should be using on its trading partners into some maniacal weapon of economic doom. There are lots of partners in this world. Just like everyone else if you act like everyone is an enemy then all you ever see is targets.
Do you really think the US doesn’t view the world solely through the lens of rivalry? That’s the underlying logic of capitalism: there are only winners and losers. Cooperation and partnership are temporary arrangements of convenience, they can always change and lists like this are one of the ways the US determines who’s next.
That’s why they use such an inflammatory term like “manipulator” - it’s meant to intimidate.
It doesn’t matter if any of them present a legitimate threat, all that matters is they’re in the way.