WASHINGTON, Aug 29 — US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said yesterday the United States does not intend to intervene in currency markets for now, Bloomberg News reported.
Mnuchin told Bloomberg in an interview that the situation could change in the future but that he believes such actions would be more effective if the US Treasury intervened in conjunction with both the Federal Reserve and US allies.
The Treasury Department has “no intention of intervention at this time,” Bloomberg quoted Mnuchin as saying. “Situations could change in the future but right now we are not contemplating an intervention.”
US President Donald Trump has frequently complained that the US dollar is too strong against the currencies of major trading partners, including Europe and China, putting US exports at a disadvantage. He has called on the Federal Reserve to cut interests rates, in part to stem the dollar's recent rise to multi-year highs.
Mnuchin labelled China a currency manipulator earlier this month after the People's Bank of China allowed the yuan to briefly slip below seven to the US dollar.
In July, Mnuchin told Reuters that the Treasury had not made any changes to its policies regarding uses for its US$93.8 billion (RM394.14 billion) Exchange Stabilisation Fund, which has been used in past coordinated market interventions to stabilise specific currencies in times of financial crises. — Reuters
