US to keep monitoring S. Korea for currency manipulation

The US is keeping South Korea on a list of its major trading partners to monitor for currency manipulation that puts American workers at an unfair disadvantage.

The US Treasury Department's semiannual report to Congress also placed ten other countries, including China, Japan, Germany.

Ireland and Mexico were newly added to the list, replacing Vietnam and Switzerland.

Instead, Vietnam and Switzerland were named as partners that merit enhanced engagement, along with Taiwan.

US reviewed 20 key trading partners over 12 months on three criteria, which were net purchases of foreign currency that total at least 2 percent of an economy's gross domestic product (GDP), a bilateral trade surplus with the U.S. that is at least $20 billion, and a material current account surplus that is at least 2 percent of GDP.

The review concluded that South Korea has met two of the three criteria in every report since April 2016 except for the May 2019 report, having a significant bilateral trade surplus with the US and a material current account surplus.

The report noted that the Korean economy saw its current account surplus widen to 4.6 percent of GDP in 2020, up from 3.6 percent in 2019.

The Treasury Department is working to address efforts artificial manipulation of currency values, said Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury.