SHANGHAI, July 17 (Reuters) - The United States wants China to move more quickly to a freely floating exchange rate, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Friday.
"Clearly, progress has been made. We simply want the currency to float freely," Locke told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
Locke, who was in China this week for talks on clean energy cooperation and trade with senior Chinese officials, declined to say what an appropriate U.S.-China exchange rate would be.
"Clearly every country is suffering from economic woes. There's been a lot of government intervention in each of their individual economies and monetary policies. But ultimately we need to see a freer floating exchange rate," Locke said.
His comments follow a decision by President Barack Obama's administration not to label China as a currency manipulator, despite concerns Obama raised about Beijing's exchange rate policies during last year's presidential election campaign.
Many U.S. lawmakers and manufacturers complain that China artificially depresses the price of its currency against the dollar to give Chinese companies an unfair trade advantage.
The yuan CNY=CFXS rose more than 20 percent against the dollar in the three years after China scrapped the currency's fixed peg in July 2005.
In the past 12 months, however, Beijing has effectively repegged the yuan, keeping the currency in very narrow ranges and preventing any further appreciation that would hurt Chinese exporters who have been hit hard by a slump in global demand. (Reporting by Doug Palmer; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Chris Lewis) reuters.com
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