United States Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin speaks during an interview with Reuters at the International Monetary Fund – World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, October 12, 2018. REUTERS/Johannes P. Christo
October 13, 2018
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Saturday said Chinese officials told him this week that a further deprection of China’s yuan currency is not in the country’s interest.
Mnuchin also told a news conference that he is “not losing any sleep” over the prospect that China could sell U.S. Treasury debt amid rising trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
“We had productive conversations, and they emphasized to me that it is not in their interest to see the RMB to continue to depreciate,” Mnuchin told a news conference at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Bali.
“And as I’ve said, the currency issue is an important issue for us in trade and will be part of our trade discussions. We want to make sure that depreciation is not being used for competitive purposes in trade,” Mnuchin added.
(Reporting by David Lawder, editing by Eric Meijer)