US president Barack Obama said China and Asia could be a huge market for US exports going forward, but he called for closer examination of currency issues.
One of the challenges that we’ve got to address internationally is currency rates and how they match up to make sure that our goods are not artificially inflated in price and their goods are artificially deflated in price. That puts us at a huge competitive disadvantage.
In his address to senators from his Democratic party, Obama said the administration would put more emphasis on exports.
You know if we just increased our exports to Asia by a percentage point, by a fraction, it would mean hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of jobs here in the United States.
China, long criticized for currency manipulation, has resisted international pressure to let the yuan resume rising after an 18-month pause. Critics say Beijing's undervalued currency gives it an unfair price advantage in international trade. Obama’s comments come as US-China relations have been put under strain, over concern about cyber security, US weapons sales to Taiwan and as President Obama prepares to meet with the ** Lama.
Deborah Lutterbeck ,Reuters
