CABINET/TREASURY/TRUMP PEOPLE/STEVEN MNUCHIN: “U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged the International Monetary Fund [IMF] to use its surveillance powers to police the exchange-rate policies of its members, part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to challenge some of America’s biggest trading partners.
Mr. Mnuchin told IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde in a telephone conversation on Tuesday that he expects the fund to ‘provide frank and candid analysis of the exchange-rate policies of IMF member countries,’ the Treasury Department said in a statement after the conversation.
The IMF has been accused by officials in previous administrations of failing to criticize China for using an undervalued currency over the last two decades to boost its exports. Mr. Trump and his team have criticized China, Japan and Europe for currency and other economic policies that weaken their exchange rates to gain a competitive trade advantage.”
–Ian Talley, “U.S. Treasury Secretary Urges IMF to Police Exchange-Rate Policies of Members,” The Wall Street Journal online, Feb. 21, 2017