美國參議院將就中國操控人民幣匯率投票

A leading U.S. lawmaker says the Senate will Move forward next week on legislation that aims to encourage China to raise the value of its currency as a way to strengthen the U.S. job te Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday the Senate will take up the bi-partisan currency legislation next week, and that he feels "very comfortable" it will be Senate bill would require the U.S. Commerce Department to investigate if a country is undervaluing its currency, which would be regarded as a government subsidy under U.S. law. Affected U.S. companies would then be allowed to seek retaliatory tariffs on goods imported from the country.

Some analysts say China has intentionally undervalued the yuan, giving Chinese companies an unfair advantage against U.S. of the bill's sponsors, Democrat Sherrod Brown ((of Ohio,)) said last week China was "cheating" when it and others manipulate their currency and keep prices of their exports artificially low on world markets. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer ((of New York)) used more direct language, saying that China is committing "economic murder."Earlier this month, the Economic Policy Institute - an American economic research organization - estimated that the country's growing trade deficit with China has eliminated or displaced nearly 2.8 million jobs since an editorial in China's state-run Xinhua newspaper spoke out against the currency legislation, saying a stronger yuan "would not fundamentally change the structural problems that existed in the U.S. economy."美國國會參議院領導人裏德說，美國參議院下週將推進一項立法，旨在鼓勵中國提高其貨幣幣值從而加強美國就業市場。參議院多數黨領袖裏德星期一說，參議院下週將着手處理這項兩黨提出的貨幣法案，他對法案能夠獲得通過感到“非常有信心”。參議院的這項法案將要求美國商務部調查一個國家是否在壓低其貨幣幣值，這種情況根據美國法律屬於政府補貼。受到影響的美國公司隨後將被允許尋求對從該國進口的貨物徵收報復性關稅。

有些分析人士說，中國故意壓低人民幣匯率，給中國公司在面對美國製造業者時提供了不公平的優勢。這項法案的發起人之一、俄亥俄州的民主黨人布朗參議員上個星期說，中國等國操控本國貨幣、在國際市場上人爲壓低其出口商品價格，這是在作弊。紐約州的民主黨參議員舒默使用的語言更爲直接，他說，中國正在進行“經濟謀殺”。美國經濟政策研究所本月早些時候估計，美國不斷增長的對華貿易赤字從2001年以來已經消除或者轉移了280萬個工作機會。但是新華社發表社論，直接抨擊美國的這項匯率立法。社論說，人民幣升值不會根本改變“美國經濟存在的深層結構性問題”。