OREANDA-NEWS. The US Treasury has recognized Switzerland and Vietnam as currency manipulators. This follows from the department’s report on the macroeconomic and monetary policy of the main American trading partners.

The United States can recognize a country as a currency manipulator if it meets three criteria: its trade surplus with the United States exceeds 20 billion US dollars; the overall foreign trade surplus is above 2 % of gross domestic product (GDP); the central bank’s foreign exchange interventions exceed 2 % of GDP.

As for Switzerland, it meets all three criteria, as well as Vietnam. Over the four quarters until June 2020, the overall surplus of Swiss foreign trade balance amounted to 8.8 % of GDP, and the surplus in trade with the USA was 49 billion dollars. From July 2019 to June 2020, the net purchase of foreign currency by the Swiss National Bank reached 103 billion dollars (14 % of GDP).