Trump won’t label China a currency manipulator

President Trump on Wednesday said he will not be labeling China a currency manipulator, breaking from his campaign promise to do so.

“They’re not currency manipulators,” Trump told the The Wall Street Journal in an interview. He added that China hadn’t been manipulating its currency for months and that he doesn’t want to throw a wrench into U.S.-China talks on North Korea.

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly accused China of manipulating its currency to hurt the U.S. in trade, and vowed to take action as president.

{mosads}Trump also slammed former President Barack Obama publicly for refusing to call China a currency manipulator.  

Once again Obama fails to classify China as a currency manipulator. He just helped China steal even more jobs and money from us.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2012

But Trump reportedly did not raise the issue during a meeting last week with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Treasury Department is legally required to release biannual currency reports to Congress regarding major trading partners who are unfairly manipulating currencies.

The report expected this month will be Treasury’s first currency report of the Trump administration.

In the interview, Trump also said he thought “our dollar is getting too strong.

“[A]nd partially that’s my fault because people have confidence in me. But that’s hurting — that will hurt ultimately,” Trump continued. “Look, there’s some very good things about a strong dollar, but usually speaking the best thing about it is that it sounds good.”

After Trump’s remarks, the dollar dropped against its rivals.

Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) have been hammering Trump on his China policy, pressuring him to match his tough campaign rhetoric and push China on unfair trade practices and label the state as a currency manipulator.

“For far too long, China taken us to the cleaners as far as the economy,” Schumer told reporters during a conference call on Tuesday. “I can’t think of a single job they have saved by a single action against China.”

This story was updated at 3:58 p.m.