I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3157 
To require certain actions to be taken against countries that manipulate 
their currencies, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 30, 2005 
Mr. DINGELL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To require certain actions to be taken against countries 
that manipulate their currencies, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Currency Manipulation 
Prevention Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Products produced in a foreign country can 
be produced or assembled with lower input costs 
through the intervention by the government of that
country in international currency markets, in order 
to maintain its own currency at artificially low valu-
ations. 
(2) This practice, in effect, subsidizes the ex-
ports of such a country while erecting a cost barrier 
to goods imported into that country. 
(3) The United States has the authority under 
current law to redress practices by other countries 
that decrease market opportunities for United States 
exports or otherwise distort trade, including cur-
rency manipulation. 
(4) Misalignments in currency caused by gov-
ernment policies intended to maintain an unfair 
trade advantage nullify and impair trade conces-
sions. 
(5) A country is considered to be manipulating 
its currency to obtain an unfair trade advantage if— 
(A) its currency manipulation has a sub-
sidy-like effect; 
(B) its currency manipulation constitutes a 
nullification and impairment of the benefits of 
the GATT 1994; or 
(C) its currency manipulation results in a 
contravention of the intention of the GATT 
1994.
(6) The International Monetary Fund also pro-
hibits the use of currency manipulation as a method 
of gaining unfair trade advantage. The International 
Monetary Fund defines such manipulation as large- 
scale and protracted intervention in one direction to 
gain an unfair trade advantage. 
(7) Article XV of the GATT 1994 and the 
Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Meas-
ures both suggest that currency manipulation in 
order to gain an unfair trading advantage would vio-
late the intent of those agreements. 
(8) Sections 301 through 309 of the Trade Act 
of 1974 provide the authority under United States 
law to take retaliatory action, including import re-
strictions, to enforce the rights of the United States 
against any unjustifiable, unreasonable, or discrimi-
natory practice or policy of a country that burdens 
or restricts United States commerce. 
(9) Section 3004 of the Omnibus Trade and 
Competitiveness Act of 1988 (22 U.S.C. 5304) re-
quires the Secretary of the Treasury to undertake 
multilateral or bilateral negotiations if it is found 
that a country is manipulating its currency, and Ar-
ticle IV of the Articles of Agreement of the Inter-
national Monetary Fund prohibits currency manipu-
lation. 
SEC. 3. TRADE NEGOTIATING OBJECTIVE. 
Section 2102(b) of the Trade Act of 2002 (19 U.S.C. 
3802(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(18) EXCHANGE RATE POLICY.—The principal 
negotiating objective of the United States with re-
spect to currency exchange rates is to ensure that 
governmental intervention in currency markets to 
stabilize short-term disruptive market conditions is 
of limited duration and is carried out in consultation 
with countries with major trading partners.’’. 
SEC. 4. REPORT ON CURRENCY MANIPULATION. 
The Secretary of Commerce shall, not later than 6 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 
not later than the end of each 6-month period thereafter, 
submit to the Congress, the President, the United States 
Trade Representative, and the Secretary of the Treasury, 
a report— 
(1) describing actions by foreign governments 
to manipulate the currencies of their countries in 
order to increase exports from those countries to the 
United States or to limit imports of United States 
products into those countries, and describing the ex-
tent of such currency manipulation;
(2) analyzing whether, and to what extent— 
(A) currency manipulation described under 
paragraph (1) affects the manufacturing sector 
in the United States; and 
(B) reduction of the manipulation and of 
the accumulation of United States dollars by 
foreign governments might affect United States 
monetary policy; and 
(3) setting forth all remedies against such cur-
rency manipulation that are available under applica-
ble trade agreements and international institutions 
such as the World Trade Organization and the 
International Monetary Fund. 
SEC. 5. PROCEEDINGS. 
(a) ACTION BY THE PRESIDENT.—In any case in 
which the Secretary of Commerce, in a report under sec-
tion 3, identities a government of a foreign country that 
is manipulating the currency of that country, the Presi-
dent, within 45 days after the report is issued, shall ini-
tiate negotiations with that country for the purpose of 
ending the currency manipulation. If the President, within 
90 days after the report under section 3 is issued, is un-
able to reach an agreement with that country to end the 
currency manipulation, the President shall take the nec-
essary steps to initiate proceedings under the applicable
trade agreements or under the auspices of the World 
Trade Organization or other applicable international insti-
tutions, and under applicable United States law, including 
section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, against that country 
on account of that currency manipulation. 
(b) COMPENSATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—In the course of, or in addi-
tion to, action taken under subsection (a) with re-
spect to a country, the President shall seek com-
pensation from that country equivalent to the dam-
ages incurred by United States manufacturers and 
other adversely affected parties in the United States 
on account of the currency manipulation of that 
country. The President is not required to seek such 
compensation if he determines that to do so would 
not be in the national interests of the United States. 
(2) REPORT IF COMPENSATION NOT SOUGHT.— 
In any case in which the President does not seek 
compensation under paragraph (1), the President 
shall transmit to the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means 
of the House of Representatives, and to the Com-
mittee on Commerce, Science and Transportation 
and the Committee on Finance of the Senate, a de-
tailed explanation of the President’s determination 
of national interest. 
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act—— 
(1) 
CURRENCY
MANIPULATION.—The 
term 
‘‘currency manipulation’’ means— 
(A) manipulation of exchange rates by a 
country in order to gain an unfair competitive 
advantage as stated in Article IV of the Articles 
of Agreement of the International Monetary 
Fund; 
(B) sustained currency intervention by a 
country in one direction, through mandatory 
foreign exchange sales at a country’s central 
bank at a fixed exchange rate; 
(C) protracted, large scale intervention in 
global currency markets in one direction, by 
buying or selling United States dollars, to 
weaken or strengthen a currency; or 
(D) other mechanisms used by a country 
to maintain its currency at at fixed exchange 
rate relative to the currency of another country. 
(2) GATT 1994.—The term ‘‘GATT 1994’’ has 
the meaning given that term in section 2 of the Uru-
guay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501).
(3) AGREEMENT ON SUBSIDIES AND COUNTER-
VAILING MEASURES.—The term ‘‘Agreement on Sub-
sidies and Countervailing Measures’’ means the 
Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Meas-
ures referred to in section 101(d)(12) of the Uru-
guay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3511(12)). 
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