Brussels, Jan 12 (DPA) China must allow its currency to revalue in order to remove imbalances in world trade, the European Union’s designated trade commissioner said Tuesday.
The EU has long called on China to allow the renminbi to appreciate, arguing that it is kept at artificially low levels to boost China’s exports.
China “must show its responsibility by being able to address thorny questions (of trade), such as currency misalignment,” Karel De Gucht told his confirmation hearing in the European Parliament.
China is the EU’s second biggest trading partner after the US. However, the EU imports many more manufactured goods from China than it sells to the country.
That has led the bloc to complain that China is limiting access to its markets for European companies, including by keeping the renminbi at an artificially low level.
De Gucht said that the EU must take its dialogue with China “to a higher level” on issues of trade and investment in the coming years.
The EU’s trade commissioner represents the bloc in trade negotiations with the rest of the world. If parliament approves the new European Commission, including De Gucht, the Belgian is expected to take up his post on Feb 1.
