US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to focus on currencies as G-20 girds for Trump era

WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plans to use his debut at a Group of 20 meeting in Germany next week to drive home the message that the US won’t tolerate countries that engage in currency devaluation to gain an edge in trade, according to people familiar with the matter.

The message, which will borrow from the G-20 consensus view hammered out with the previous U.S. administration, will be Mnuchin’s focus as he has few political staffers to develop detailed positions on key points such as global trade rules and their collision with President Donald Trump’s “America First” stance, the people said.

A mainstay of G-20 statements in recent years, the pledge to refrain from using monetary policy to cheapen currencies takes on new relevance amid US claims that China, Germany and others are doing just that. While other members plan to stick to the informal economic rule book that the G-20 writes, the U. appears poised to challenge the consensus that its based on.


Four people in the U.S. and Europe with knowledge of the Treasury’s preparations and the G-20 communique drafting process spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential deliberations. Finance ministers and central bank governors of the world’s 20 key economies are scheduled to meet from March 17 in the spa resort of Baden-Baden in southern Germany.