The US has kept Taiwan on its latest list of countries to monitor for possible currency manipulation in a semi-annual report titled Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States.Taiwan is among 10 US trading partners that have been kept on the currency manipulation monitoring list, emphasizing that their "currency practices and macroeconomic policies merit close attention,” the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement yesterday.The other nine on the list are China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland, the department said.
The flags of the US and the Republic of China flutter outside the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology in Taoyuan on March 30.
The 10 countries were also included on the monitoring list in the January report.The report uses three criteria to determine if any of the US’ trading partners should be named as a currency manipulator. The criteria are: having a trade surplus with the US of at least US$15 billion; having a current account surplus of at least 3 percent of GDP; and persistent intervention in the foreign exchange market, shown by net purchases of foreign currency of at least 2 percent of GDP.
