Page 1173 TITLE 22—FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE § 5304

currencies in relation to the United States

dollar to gain competitive advantage continue

to create serious competitive problems for

United States industries;

(7) a more stable exchange rate for the dollar

at a level consistent with a more appropriate

and sustainable balance in the United States

current account should be a major focus of national economic policy;

(8) procedures for improving the coordination of macroeconomic policy need to be

strengthened considerably; and

(9) under appropriate circumstances, intervention by the United States in foreign exchange markets as part of a coordinated international strategic intervention effort could

produce more orderly adjustment of foreign

exchange markets and, in combination with

necessary macroeconomic policy changes, assist adjustment toward a more appropriate

and sustainable balance in current accounts.

(Pub. L. 100–418, title III, §3002, Aug. 23, 1988, 102

Stat. 1372.)

§ 5303. Statement of policy

It is the policy of the United States that—

(1) the United States and the other major industrialized countries should take steps to

continue the process of coordinating monetary, fiscal, and structural policies initiated in

the Plaza Agreement of September 1985;

(2) the goal of the United States in international economic negotiations should be to

achieve macroeconomic policies and exchange

rates consistent with more appropriate and

sustainable balances in trade and capital flows

and to foster price stability in conjunction

with economic growth;

(3) the United States, in close coordination

with the other major industrialized countries

should, where appropriate, participate in

international currency markets with the objective of producing more orderly adjustment

of foreign exchange markets and, in combination with necessary macroeconomic policy

changes, assisting adjustment toward a more

appropriate and sustainable balance in current

accounts; and

(4) the accountability of the President for

the impact of economic policies and exchange

rates on trade competitiveness should be increased.

(Pub. L. 100–418, title III, §3003, Aug. 23, 1988, 102

Stat. 1373.)

§ 5304. International negotiations on exchange

rate and economic policies

(a) Multilateral negotiations

The President shall seek to confer and negotiate with other countries—

(1) to achieve—

(A) better coordination of macroeconomic

policies of the major industrialized nations;

and

(B) more appropriate and sustainable levels of trade and current account balances,

and exchange rates of the dollar and other

currencies consistent with such balances;

and

(2) to develop a program for improving existing mechanisms for coordination and improving the functioning of the exchange rate system to provide for long-term exchange rate

stability consistent with more appropriate and

sustainable current account balances.

(b) Bilateral negotiations

The Secretary of the Treasury shall analyze

on an annual basis the exchange rate policies of

foreign countries, in consultation with the

International Monetary Fund, and consider

whether countries manipulate the rate of exchange between their currency and the United

States dollar for purposes of preventing effective

balance of payments adjustments or gaining unfair competitive advantage in international

trade. If the Secretary considers that such manipulation is occurring with respect to countries

that (1) have material global current account

surpluses; and (2) have significant bilateral

trade surpluses with the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury shall take action to initiate negotiations with such foreign countries on

an expedited basis, in the International Monetary Fund or bilaterally, for the purpose of ensuring that such countries regularly and

promptly adjust the rate of exchange between

their currencies and the United States dollar to

permit effective balance of payments adjustments and to eliminate the unfair advantage.

The Secretary shall not be required to initiate

negotiations in cases where such negotiations

would have a serious detrimental impact on

vital national economic and security interests;

in such cases, the Secretary shall inform the

chairman and the ranking minority member of

the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban

Affairs of the Senate and of the Committee on

Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs of the

House of Representatives of his determination.

(Pub. L. 100–418, title III, §3004, Aug. 23, 1988, 102

Stat. 1373.)

CHANGE OF NAME

Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs of

House of Representatives treated as referring to Committee on Banking and Financial Services of House of

Representatives by section 1(a) of Pub. L. 104–14, set

out as a note preceding section 21 of Title 2, The Congress.

NEGOTIATIONS ON CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATES

Section 1124 of Pub. L. 100–418 provided that:

‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

‘‘(1) the benefit of trade concessions can be adversely affected by misalignments in currency, and

‘‘(2) misalignments in currency caused by government policies intended to maintain an unfair trade

advantage tend to nullify and impair trade concessions.

‘‘(b) NEGOTIATIONS.—Whenever, in the course of negotiating a trade agreement under this subtitle [subtitle

A (§§1101 to 1125) of title I of Pub. L. 100–418, see Tables

for classification], the President is advised by the Secretary of the Treasury that a foreign country that is a

party to the negotiations satisfies the criteria for initiating bilateral currency negotiations listed in section

3004(b) of this Act [22 U.S.C. 5304(b)], the Secretary of

the Treasury shall take action to initiate bilateral currency negotiations on an expedited basis with such foreign country.’’

SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS

This section is referred to in section 5305 of this title.