Fair Currency Practices Act of 2005

Bill: 109-hr-2208
Sponsor: Rep. Manzullo, Donald A. [R-IL-16]
Introduced: 2005-05-10 in the House
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance
Subjects: Balance of payments
China
Congress
Congress and foreign policy
Congressional reporting requirements
East Asia
Foreign exchange
Governmental investigations
International Affairs
Negotiations

Summary:
action_date: 2005-05-10
text: 
Fair Currency Practices Act of 2005 - Amends the Exchange Rates and International Economic Policy Coordination Act of 1988 with respect to bilateral negotiations with countries considered to manipulate the rate of exchange between their currency and the U.S. dollar for purposes of preventing effective balance of payments adjustments or gaining unfair competitive advantage in international trade.
 
Modifies the preconditions for the initiation of negotiations by the Secretary of the Treasury to make them alternative rather than joint. (Requires the Secretary to consider that such manipulation is occurring with respect to countries that possess material global current account surpluses or (currently, and) significant bilateral trade surpluses with the United States.)
 
Declares that a country shall be considered to be manipulating the rate of exchange between its currency and the U.S. dollar if there is a protracted large-scale intervention in one direction in the exchange markets.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to find that a country is manipulating the rate of exchange based on any other factor or combination of factors.
 
Requires the Secretary to examine and report to Congress on the trade surplus of the People's Republic of China (PRC), particularly on: (1) why the trade surplus with the United States and other countries reported by the PRC differs from the trade surplus reported by the other countries; and (2) quantification of such differences.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2005-06-03
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology.
action_date: 2005-05-16
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Trade.
action_date: 2005-05-10
text: Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, and International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2005-05-10
text: Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, and International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2005-05-10
text: Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, and International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2005-05-10
text: Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, and International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2005-05-10
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E920-921)
action_date: 2005-05-10
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2005-05-10
text: Introduced in House