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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 933 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 933

   Commending the Government of Japan for its current policy against 
   currency manipulation and encouraging the Government of Japan to 
                        continue in this policy.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 19, 2009

 Mr. Dingell submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                    the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
   Commending the Government of Japan for its current policy against 
   currency manipulation and encouraging the Government of Japan to 
                        continue in this policy.

Whereas beginning in 1998 and continuing until 2004, Japan purchased hundreds of 
        billions of dollars in foreign currency reserves, thus driving down the 
        value of the Japanese yen relative to the United States dollar;
Whereas direct intervention in currency markets was supplemented during that 
        time by the Japanese government's ``jawboning'' about further moves to 
        weaken the value of Japan's currency;
Whereas currency manipulation caused unfair gains in Japanese manufacturers' 
        collective share in the United States automobile market, as well as 
        resulted in a $4,000 per-vehicle cost advantage for imported Japanese 
        vehicles over United States-made vehicles in 2006, according to the 
        Automotive Trade Policy Council;
Whereas Toyota and Honda have indicated in annual reports that their net 
        revenues were increased due to the exchange rate between the United 
        States dollar and Japanese yen;
Whereas the International Monetary Fund's Articles of Agreement prohibit the use 
        of currency manipulation as a method of gaining an unfair trade 
        advantage;
Whereas article XV of the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 
        1994) and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures both 
        suggest that currency manipulation in order to gain an unfair trading 
        advantage would violate the intent of those agreements;
Whereas The Financial Times reported in a September 28, 2009, article that 
        Hirohisa Fujii, the Japanese finance minister, announced Japan would not 
        intervene to stem a recent rise in the value of the Japanese yen; and
Whereas The Financial Times reported in an October 26, 2009, article that 
        Haruhiko Kuroda, president of the Asian Development Bank, said ``China, 
        Japan, and other east Asian countries must have `serious' talks on 
        currency cooperation to prevent a recurrence of violent fluctuations'': 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) commends the Government of Japan for its recent 
        reversal in policy pertaining to currency manipulation; and
            (2) encourages the Government of Japan to maintain this new 
        policy, thereby conforming to its responsibilities as a member 
        of the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade 
        Organization, as well as promoting free and fair international 
        trade.
                                 <all>
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