The U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday it would delay until later this year a ruling on whether China is manipulating its yuan currency, which Democratic Party lawmakers have sought to target in a bill that would punish Beijing for foreign exchange controls.Beijing has repeatedly decried the U.S. legislation, which would let Washington slap countervailing duties on goods from nations deemed to subsidize exports by undervaluing their currencies, including China’s yuan, which many lawmakers say is held drastically low against the dollar.There was no announcement about the phone conversation on the U.S. Treasury Department’s website.Geithner said last month that China is holding to a decades-old strategy to steal American intellectual property, in a pointed statement reflecting U.S. officials’ growing impatience with Beijing.
