Sino-American talks on currency fail

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">WASHINGTON: Admitting that talks with China to harden its currency had failed, US President George W Bush said it was not fair if a currency was controlled by a government and not the market.<br /><br />Bush told <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">CNBC </span>TV that Treasury Secretary John Snow, whom he sent to China for the talks this week, failed to persuade the Asian nation to tie its currency value to the market, that is, allow it to float.<br /><br />The US wants China to harden its currency to lessen the advantage China has in exporting its manufactured goods, a significant portion of which is produced by subsidiaries of American firms who want to take advantage of Chinese labour which is very cheap by American standards.<br /><br />"We don''t think we are being treated fairly when a currency is controlled by the government," said Bush."We believe the currency ought to be controlled by the market and ought to reflect the true values of the respective economies."<br /><br />He said Snow "did deliver a strong message from the (US) Administration: that we expect our trading partners to treat our people fairly - our producers and workers and farmers and manufacturers. I look forward to hearing their response to him, and then we will deal with it accordingly."<br /><br />However, Bush acknowledged that the US was in no position to take too hard a stance on the currency policy of China, a nation the US is relying upon to thwart North Korea''s nuclear proliferation. "The relationships," said Bush, "are complicated. We will have to assess all the issues."</div> </div>