Obama asks Hu to keep promises on yuan

President Barack Obama called on Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to make good on a commitment to allow the yuan to appreciate to help prevent trade imbalances that exacerbated the global economic crisis.

“I was pleased to note the Chinese commitment, made in past statements, to move toward a more market-oriented exchange rate over time,” Obama said during a joint appearance with Hu after a meeting in Beijing. “Doing so based on economic fundamentals would make an essential contribution to the global rebalancing effort.”

America’s trade deficit with China widened to a 10-month high in September, raising concern that the combination of a recovering US economy and a fixed yuan exchange rate against the dollar will worsen global imbalances. China’s dollar purchases to prevent appreciation swelled its foreign-exchange reserves to $2.3 trillion in the third quarter, more than twice as much as any other country.