US To Remove China "Currency Manipulator" Designation Ahead Of Treade Deal; Yuan Jumps

For anyone still seeking definitive confirmation that the Treasury's "Currency Manipulator" designation is nothing more than a political tool, here it is: moments ago Bloomberg reported that just five months after the Treasury slammed China as a currency manipulator on August 5 when the trade war between the two nations was near its apex, the US would lift said "manipulator" tag hours ahead of the Phase One trade deal which is now set to be announced to much fanfare on Jan 15.

According to the report, the Treasury Department will make the move in the latest semi-annual currency report, which is expected to be released ahead of Jan 15 after being delayed as the U.S. and China finalize a “phase one” trade pact.

As we reported at the time, On August 5 Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin first formally labeled China a currency-manipulator since the days of the Clinton administration, a move that further escalated the trade war with Beijing after the country’s central bank allowed the yuan to fall in retaliation to new U.S. tariffs. The designation followed just hours after the Yuan tumbled below the critical level of 7 against the dollar.

And since it is now clear that this designation was merely a political ploy to push China, now that a deal is in sight, the designation is being lifted.

The administration had at one point considered maintaining the label and instead announcing it would monitor the yuan with the possibility of lifting the designation in August of this year, according to the people.

Mnuchin’s August 2019 announcement prompted authorities in Beijing to increase transparency around how they manage the yuan. Some of that data has provided support for Treasury’s view that the People’s Bank of China engages in competitive devaluations of its currency, the people said.

ronically, when China branded a currency manipulator it was for devaluing its currency when in reality Beijing has been fighting tooth and nail to keep its currency stronger than it should be based on the shadow outflows from the country's closed capital account; as a result economists slammed the August decision: the IMF said in September the yuan is fairly valued and that there’s no evidence of manipulation, noting that China’s weakening currency could also be attributed to a slowdown in growth.

More to the point, China also doesn’t meet the criteria outlined in a 2015 U.S. law for formally designating a country a currency-manipulator. Mnuchin instead relied on a 1988 trade law that has a looser definition of currency manipulation to justify the claim. He did so after the yuan broke the 7 per dollar level for the first time since 2008, drawing Trump’s ire.

As a reminder, the August announcement was made in a press release, outside the normal issuance of the report. That left currency strategists and policy experts without a full explanation for the decision. Treasury’s currency report examines 20 countries for possible currency manipulation, a number that was increased from 12 in May.

And, as Bloomberg discloses, "Trump was involved in drafting the press release, which on his direction refers to China as a “Currency Manipulator,” using capital letters."

Hinting at what's to come, last October Mnuchin said that if a trade deal with China were signed, he would consider removing the manipulator tag, saying that signing an agreement would be “a big step in the right direction.” And now that a deal is imminent, this is precisely what has happened.

Following the bloomberg report, the Yuan rose to fresh session highs, with the USDCNH dropping to levels not seen since July.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-remove-china-currency-manipulator-designation-ahead-treade-deal-yuan-jumps

interesting…

As of January 1, 2020, the cancer industry has now killed 20 million people around the world since the year 2000

If you’re curious how many people are dying from things that the government claims are “safe and effective,” look no further than the Pharma Death Clock website, which explains that more than 20 million people have died from chemotherapy alone since the year 2000.

As it turns out, the chemical cocktails manufactured by Big Pharma kill orders of magnitude more people than world wars and acts of terrorism combined, which makes the pharmaceutical industry the number-one killer in our world today.

Since the year 2000, nearly 2.25 million people have died from taking opioid pharmaceuticals, even as the cannabis plant remains federally outlawed and kratom (mitragyna speciose), a natural alternative to opioids, is under constant attack by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Antibiotic-resistant superbugs, which were spawned by Big Pharma’s death “medicines,” have also killed more than 14 million people since the year 2000, while psychiatric drugs have killed more than 10 million people.

Another top killer of people in the world today is general medicine and its associated approved treatments. Iatrogenic deaths, as these are also called, clock in at nearly 16 million people since the year 2000.

Other prominent causes of death in our world today include hospital errors at nearly nine million deaths since 2000, drug-resistant tuberculosis at more than four million deaths, bedsores at nearly 2.5 million deaths, hospital malnutrition at nearly 2.2 million deaths, adverse drug reactions at nearly 2.2 million deaths, medical errors at nearly two millions deaths, hospital infections at more than 1.5 million deaths, and SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) at nearly one million deaths.

https://dcdirtylaundry.com/as-of-january-1-2020-the-cancer-industry-has-now-killed-20-million-people-around-the-world-since-the-year-2000/

http://pharmadeathclock.com/

Colorado judge denies request to take man's guns under new 'red flag' law

In a first, a judge declined a motion to confiscate a man’s guns under Colorado’s “red flag” law, according to CBS4.

The unnamed woman who filed the request, who lives in the town of Limon, is one of four known people who have made filings to confiscate guns under the law, with others filing in Denver and Larimer County.

The filing claims the man in question has a drinking problem and has verbally and physically threatened the person making the request with a handgun, according to CBS4.

Lincoln County, where Limon is located, has indicated it will not honor the Colorado law, but state Rep. Alec Garnett (D) said the law allows for requests to be turned down.

He told CBS4 that in this case, the mechanism for denying a request worked as intended. The reasoning behind the judge's denial was not immediately made public.

The details of red flag laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but Colorado’s allows law enforcement to seek temporary protection orders or confiscation orders from a judge for a person deemed a danger to themselves or others, with a court hearing required within 14 days of an order being granted to determine whether to extend the confiscation, with a cap of 364 days.

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/477995-colorado-judge-denies-request-to-take-mans-guns-under-new-red