U.S. accuses Switzerland and Vietnam of currency war
16 December 2020
Switzerland and Vietnam have officially been designated as currency manipulators, the Treasury Department announced today.
Why it matters: The designation allows the White House to impose a broad range of tariffs, sanctions and other punishments on the two friendly countries, both of whom have been struggling with strengthening currencies this year.
- The Swiss franc is a classic "flight-to-quality" currency, bought in times of global crisis and uncertainty. When that happens, Swiss exporters suffer, and the domestic inflation rate risks turning negative. So the central bank has intervened in currency markets to slow the strengthening of the currency.
- Vietnam has been the primary beneficiary of the U.S. trade war with China. Global manufacturers who don't want to have all their eggs in the China basket have been moving some of their operations to Vietnam, which carries much less geopolitical risk. The increase in Vietnamese exports has strengthened the currency, and the central bank has tried to keep that strengthening under control.
The big picture: The "currency manipulator" label is rarely used. Until now it has only been applied to China (in 2019 and between 1992 and 1994), as well as Japan and Taiwan in the late 1980s.
Between the lines: While most U.S. administrations pay lip service to the idea that a strong dollar is in the national interest, Trump has aggressively taken the other side, seeking a weaker dollar — which means he wants other countries' currencies to be stronger. Even though the Swiss and Vietnamese currencies have been strengthening, he doesn't think they've been strengthening enough.
The bottom line: The designation will likely have limited practical consequence between now and Jan. 21, at which point a friendlier and more multilateralist Biden administration could try to salve any hurt feelings from this move.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.