U.S. Treasury Department does not label China currency manipulator

The Trump administration has not labeled any country, including China, as a currency manipulator in a report examining exchange rate fluctuations.

The Treasury Department, in its semiannual report on exchange rates sent to Congress, has not labeled any country as a currency manipulator but it kept six countries on the monitoring list that merit close attention for their currency practices.

China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan remained on a previously established watch list of countries in the Trump administration's first report on currency values.

No country met the three criteria to be labelled a currency manipulator in the second half of 2016.

"Expanding trade in a way that is freer and fairer for all Americans requires that other economies avoid unfair currency practices, and we will continue to monitor this carefully," The Hill quoted Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as saying in a statement.

In recent days, President Donald Trump has backed off his calls to label China a currency manipulator after vowing to punish Beijing in the early days of his administration.

Trump, in a recent interview to The Wall Street Journal, backed away from his promise during the presidential campaign to punish China for manipulating the yuan.

He had repeatedly railed against the trade imbalance between the United States and China during his election campaign.