A key U.S. senator said he has delivered the message that "China's unfair trade practices will not be tolerated" in a meeting Thursday with the head of the country's vast sovereign wealth fund.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said he met with China Investment Corporation Chairman Lou Jiwei; Zhou Wenzhong, a former Chinese ambassador to Washington and now secretary-general of Boao Forum for Asia; and Zhang Guobao, chairman of the advisory board of China's National Energy Commission.
"I made clear that China's unfair trade practices will not be tolerated," said Casey, who has pushed President Obama's administration to formally accuse Beijing of keeping its currency artificially cheap.
"For far too long, the U.S. has allowed China to manipulate its currency without consequence and the practice has taken a dramatic toll on Pennsylvania's companies and workers," said Casey, who represents the state.
Lawmakers in Washington charge that Beijing's currency policy makes its goods unfairly cheap, pushing U.S. firms out of business and costing jobs in the sour U.S. economy, weighed down by unemployment over 9%.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
