(Updates with Geithner on currency report)
WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - The following are highlights from a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Thursday with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the future of U.S. economic relations with China.
For a text of Geithner's prepared testimony, see:
> For a story on Geithner's testimony, [ID:nN10220087]
Reuters Insider video of Geithner's testimony:
GEITHNER ON WHEN THE TREASURY DEPT WILL RELEASE ITS CURRENCY REPORT:
"Once we get through the G20 meeting we'll take a little stock (on when to release currency report) I haven't decided yet. ... It'll be at that time we decide is the right moment."
GEITHNER ON PRESSURE SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER HAS BROUGHT:
"I believe your efforts on this over the past six years ... were effective, have been effective at decisive moments."
"I think it's very important for China to understand that your current legislation ... has very broad support. Not just on your side of the aisle, but very, very broad bipartisan support. I think the strength of the sentiment in Congress is overwhelmingly strong, it's bipartisan and it reflects how important this is to the United States..."
"You've been very consistent ... in saying that it's important for China to understand that Congress will act if China does not act."
SENATE FINANCE RANKING REPUBLICAN CHUCK GRASSLEY ON CHINA FOREX POLICY:
"The time is long past for any Treasury Department to admit publicly what everyone else already knows, that China is manipulating the value of its currency in order to gain an unfair advantage in international trade."
"They need to grow up and be citizens of this world, as mature citizens and know that in a globalization, it isn't just economics that is globalized, it's politics that are globalized. And we ought to be able to discuss these things without one country being incensed because the other one brings something up. We're all mature people. "
GEITHNER ON PROGRESS OF NEGOTIATIONS:
"I, to be honest, do not know, whether we're at the point now when we're going to see meaningful progress in the near term. ... Our objective is to encourage China to move as quickly as possible."
SENATE FINANCE CHAIRMAN MAX BAUCUS ON U.S.-CHINA ECONOMIC RELATIONS:
The United States must formulate a comprehensive strategy to better manage our bilateral U.S. economic relationship. Different U.S. agencies are pursuing different, uncoordinated strategies. We can no longer approach our economic relationship in this piecemeal way. ... We must craft a holistic strategy, orchestrated and led by the White House, to develop a strong, mutually beneficial U.S.-China economic relationship.
BAUCUS ON U.S. TAKING ACTION:
"We must be willing to take strong unilateral action," Baucus said referring to Geithner's decision to delay an April 15 report on whether China was manipulating its currency. "We must work multilaterally to resolve the currency issue. But we cannot expect our trading partners to take strong action if we are unwilling to do so."
"America can no longer afford to be complacent. We no longer have the luxury of pursuing failed approaches. We must rethink the U.S.-China economic relationship. We must act, not just talk."
FROM GEITHNER'S PREPARED TEXT:
"We want China to change those policies that disadvantage American companies and to provide greater protections for American intellectual property. We want China to provide a level playing field for the products of American workers and investments by American companies. And we want China to change its growth strategy to rely less on exports and more on consumption."
"The Administration will apply forcefully the full remedies available under U.S. law to address unfair trade practices, such as injurious dumping and subsidies."
"Reform of China's exchange rate is critically important to the United States and to the global economy. And it is in China's own interest to allow the exchange rate to reflect market forces."
"A stronger renminbi would benefit China because it would boost the purchasing power of households and encourage firms to shift to production for domestic demand, rather than for export."
"China's exchange rate policy affects all of China's trading partners. Because of concern about the impact on their competitiveness, many emerging markets have been intervening in foreign exchange markets in order to resist upward pressure on their exchange rate."
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