BEIJING — A pending trade agreement between the United States and China could put few restrictions on Beijing’s control over the strength of its currency, potentially inflaming trade hawks in Congress and within the Trump administration itself.
China’s control over the value of its currency has long been a major point of conflict between Beijing and the West, though the issue has faded in prominence in recent years. Lawmakers and officials in other countries have contended that Beijing has unfairly weakened China’s currency, the renminbi, compared with the American dollar and other currencies, giving Chinese companies and factories an advantage when selling goods abroad.
China has long denied the accusation.
Yi Gang, the governor of China’s central bank, said at a news conference on Sunday morning in Beijing that during high-level trade talks last month in Washington, “the two sides reached consensus on many key and important issues” about currency markets.
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