I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3269
To require certain actions to be taken against countries that manipulate 
their currencies, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 8, 2003
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 makes the following findings: 
(1) The growth of the United States economy 
over the last century has largely been a function of 
the success of the manufacturing sector. 30 percent
of the economic growth during the 1990s was attrib-
utable to manufacturing. 
(2) Manufacturers conduct 60 percent of all re-
search and development for new products and tech-
nologies in the United States. Manufacturing jobs 
also provide 26 percent higher wages than jobs in 
the service sector. 
(3) Since July 2000, more than 2,700,000 jobs 
have been lost in the manufacturing sector. That ac-
counts for more than 90 percent of the jobs lost dur-
ing the economic downturn. 
(4) One of the difficulties faced by United 
States manufacturers in providing jobs is their dis-
advantage in competing against low cost foreign 
products. 
(5) The low cost of products produced abroad 
can be caused by the intervention of governments of 
other countries in the currency markets in order to 
maintain their own currencies at artificially low 
valuations. 
(6) This practice, in effect, subsidizes the ex-
ports of those countries while erecting a cost barrier 
to goods imported into those countries. 
(7) United States trading partners, such as the 
People’s Republic of China, Japan, South Korea,
and 
Taiwan 
have 
amassed 
more 
than 
$1,200,000,000,000 in foreign currency reserves, the 
vast majority of which are United States dollars. In 
particular, the intervention by the People’s Republic 
of China in the currency market has led to an 
undervaluation of the renminbi by as much as 40 
percent. This creates a 40 percent subsidy for goods 
of that country. 
(8) The United States trade deficit with China 
increased 
from 
$57,000,000,000 
in 
1998 
to 
$103,000,000,000 in 2002. 
(9) The United States has the right and power 
to redress unfair competitive practices in inter-
national trade that involve currency manipulation. 
(10) 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. 
(11) Article XV of the GATT 1994, as defined 
in section 2 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act 
(19 U.S.C. 3501), and the Agreement on Subsidies
and Countervailing Measures referred to in section 
101(d)(12) of that Act (19 U.S.C. 3511(12)) both 
suggest that currency manipulation in order to gain 
an unfair trading advantage would violate the intent 
of those agreements. 
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 economies.’’. 
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 4, 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 
45 days after the report under section 4 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 paragraph (1) 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. CURRENCY MANIPULATION DEFINED. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘currency manipulation’’ 
means—
(1) 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; 
(2) sustained currency intervention by a coun-
try in one direction, through mandatory foreign ex-
change sales at a country’s central bank at a fixed 
exchange rate; or 
(3) other mechanisms used by a country to 
maintain its currency at at fixed exchange rate rel-
ative to the currency [of another country].
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