President Trump just said the Chinese are 'not currency manipulators.' Last week he called them the 'world champion' of currency manipulation.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, President Trump declared the U.S. dollar is "getting too strong." "[P]artially that's my fault because people have confidence in me," Trump said. "But that's hurting — that will hurt ultimately."
He continued: "Look, there's some very good things about a strong dollar, but usually speaking the best thing about it is that it sounds good." The president also said he'd rather the Federal Reserve "keep interest rates low," The Wall Street Journal reported.
In the same interview, Trump revealed that his administration would not label China a "currency manipulator" in an upcoming report, walking back a common refrain from his presidential campaign. Just last week, Trump deemed China the "world champion" of currency manipulation. On Wednesday, he said the Chinese are "not currency manipulators."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Wall Street Journal reported Trump changed his mind on China because the country "hasn't been manipulating its currency for months and because [labeling China a currency manipulator] now could jeopardize his talks with Beijing on confronting the threat of North Korea."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Political cartoons for January 19Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include Greenland tariffs, fighting the Fed, and more
-
Spain’s deadly high-speed train crashThe Explainer The country experienced its worst rail accident since 2013, with the death toll of 39 ‘not yet final’
-
Can Starmer continue to walk the Trump tightrope?Today's Big Question PM condemns US tariff threat but is less confrontational than some European allies
-
TikTok secures deal to remain in USSpeed Read ByteDance will form a US version of the popular video-sharing platform
-
Unemployment rate ticks up amid fall job lossesSpeed Read Data released by the Commerce Department indicates ‘one of the weakest American labor markets in years’
-
US mints final penny after 232-year runSpeed Read Production of the one-cent coin has ended
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting