He reiterated that commitment in his “Contract with the American Voter,” which said,
“I will direct the secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator.”
And on Thursday, Mr. Trump reiterated his longstanding view of China in an interview with Reuters.
Mr. Trump also has not initiated the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico
and Canada, something he promised to “immediately pursue.”
“There’s definitely a huge gap between rhetoric and reality,” said Chad P. Bown, a senior fellow
and specialist on trade policy at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
WASHINGTON — President Trump keeps firing verbal broadsides at Mexico and China,
but so far his new administration has not acted to keep specific campaign promises about trade policy.
“I think they’re the grand champions at manipulation of currency,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “We’ll see what happens.”
But Mr. Mnuchin had already made clear hours earlier that the administration did not intend for anything to happen, at least immediately.
“It’s economic undevelopment, as far as our country is concerned.”
Mr. Trump has fulfilled one campaign promise on trade, signing an order to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a unsigned deal
that the Obama administration negotiated with Pacific Rim nations but had not submitted to Congress for approval.
Mr. Trump said during the presidential campaign that he would declare China a currency manipulator on “Day 1” of his administration.
