The U.S. Department of the Treasury has released its semiannual report to Congress reviewing the macroeconomic and foreign exchange policies of major trading partners, covering about 78 percent of U.S. foreign trade in goods and services for the four quarters through June 2025.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated: “President Trump is committed to pursuing economic and trade policies that will spur an American revitalization marked by strong economic growth, the elimination of destructive trade deficits, and countering unfair trade practices. Treasury is closely monitoring whether our trading partners are acting through foreign exchange intervention and non-market policies and practices to manipulate their currencies for unfair competitive advantage in trade. In support of President Trump’s America First Trade Policy, starting with this Report, Treasury is strengthening its analysis of trading partners’ currency policies and practices. These enhanced analyses inform Treasury’s assessments of exchange rate policies and practices of the United States’ major trading partners.”
According to the report, as part of President Trump’s America First Trade Policy, discussions began in spring 2025 with several trading partners that have frequently appeared on the Monitoring List in previous Foreign Exchange Reports. The Treasury has issued joint statements with authorities from Japan, Switzerland, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, and Taiwan. These statements emphasize ongoing consultations on macroeconomic and foreign exchange issues while reaffirming commitments not to manipulate exchange rates for competitive advantage or to prevent balance of payments adjustments. They also stress transparency in exchange rate policy disclosures.
The Treasury’s analysis—conducted under requirements set by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988—found that no major U.S. trading partner manipulated its currency against the dollar during this period to gain an unfair advantage or prevent balance adjustments.
While China was not designated a currency manipulator in this report, it was noted for lacking transparency regarding its exchange rate policies. The report states: “This lack of transparency will not preclude Treasury from designating China if available evidence suggests that it is intervening through formal or informal channels to resist RMB appreciation in the future.” The document also points out China’s large external surpluses and undervalued currency as areas needing attention.
No major trading partner met all three criteria for enhanced analysis under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 during this review period. However, ten economies remain on the Monitoring List due to their currency practices or macroeconomic policies: China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand (newly added), Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland.
For the first time in this edition, Treasury has strengthened its analysis by broadening monitoring beyond persistent one-sided intervention to include how economies manage both depreciation and appreciation pressures on their currencies. The department is also increasing scrutiny over other government actions affecting foreign exchange markets—including capital controls and activities by government investment vehicles such as pension funds—and is examining net forward positions held by central banks.
The full report was submitted to Congress as required by Section 3005 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (22 U.S.C. § 5305) and Section 701 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. § 4421).
