WSJ: Trump Reverses Pledge, Won’t Label China Currency Manipulator

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together after their meetings at Mar-a-Lago, Friday, April 7, 2017, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together after their meetings at Mar-a-Lago, Friday, April 7, 2017, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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President Donald Trump flip-flopped on a number of campaign promises Wednesday, most notably saying that he no longer planned to officially label China a currency manipulator.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said that the Treasury Department would not label China a currency manipulator in an April 15 report to Congress on the exchange rates of the Untied States’ major trading partners, despite his promise during the presidential campaign to do so.

According to the paper, Trump said that was because China had not devalued its currency for months. “They’re not currency manipulators,” he said. However, there is broad agreement among experts that China has not devalued its currency, as Trump claimed during the campaign, for years — in fact, the country is attempting to prop its currency up and keep the dollar from becoming too strong.

Trump also reportedly said naming China a currency manipulator could jeopardize his efforts to work with the country to combat the threat posed by North Korea.

Trump reversed other campaign promises, too: he said Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen was “not toast” (at least, not yet), despite targeting her frequently on the campaign trail. And, asked about Yellen, he also said, “I do like a low-interest rate policy, I must be honest with you.” On the campaign trail, well, he was all over the place on interest rates.

In a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday, Trump reversed yet another campaign theme: that NATO was obsolete.

It’s “no longer obsolete,” he said, after baselessly claiming the military alliance had focused more heavily on counter-terrorism efforts due to his criticisms.

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Notable Replies

  1. What the Trumpazees will read/hear: 'Trump gets China to stop manipulating currency!"

  2. And let’s not forget how any threat from Comrade Chaos has the Chinese quaking in their boots … once they pick themselves up from the floor after recovering from spasms of laughter.

    “Xinhua, the state news agency, on Saturday called the strike the act of a weakened politician who needed to flex his muscles,” The New York Times reported. “In an analysis, Xinhua also said Mr. Trump had ordered the strike to distance himself from Syria’s backers in Moscow, to overcome accusations that he was ‘pro-Russia.’”

  3. Avatar for caltg caltg says:

    “President Donald Trump flip-flopped on a number of campaign promises Wednesday.”

    This should surprise no one. Trump has fip-flopped on just about everything since his inauguration. It is almost a daily occurrence. Unfortunately, his flip-flops usually make things worse.

  4. So if you repeatedly flip-flop on alternative facts, that were all lie’s in the first place, where do you end up?

    POTUS 45

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