US Treasury Secretary John Snow on Tuesday increased pressure on China to make its currency more flexible, saying it was a top priority in the Bush administration's international economic policy. "We take this issue very seriously and have devoted considerable time and attention - at all levels - to working with the Chinese to prepare them for a change," Snow said in testimony before the US House Committee on Financial Services. The United States has long urged Beijing to reform its policy of pegging the yuan at 8.28 to the dollar, which Washington argues is tantamount to an export subsidy.
Beijing has said it will eventually loosen the currency peg but Chinese officials were absent from the Group of Seven meeting in Washington last week - a sign, according to some analysts, that Beijing did not want to be pressured.
Snow said the peg impaired trade adjustments throughout the international financial system and prevented Beijing from using monetary policy to control inflation.
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