The U.S. Donald Trump administration has redesignated Korea as a currency monitoring list country. Thailand was newly added to the watch list in this report.
On the 29th (local time), the U.S. Treasury, in its semiannual report to Congress titled "Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners," classified 10 countries, including Korea, as currency monitoring list countries, saying close attention is needed to their currency practices and overall macro policies.
The watch list includes Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland. Among them, Thailand was newly designated this time, while the remaining nine countries kept their existing status.
Korea was removed from the currency monitoring list in Nov. 2023 for the first time in about seven years since April 2016, but it was put back on the list in Nov. 2024, before the launch of the Trump administration. Its watch list status was maintained in the report in June last year and again this time.
Under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act enacted in 2015, the United States evaluates the macroeconomy and exchange-rate policies of the top 20 countries with the largest trade with the United States. The criteria are threefold: ▲ a trade surplus with the United States of $1.5 billion or more ▲ a current account surplus of 3% or more of gross domestic product (GDP) ▲ net purchases of dollars for at least 8 of the past 12 months and in an amount equal to 2% or more of GDP.
Among these, a country that meets all three criteria is classified as a "country for enhanced analysis," and one that meets two is classified as a "monitoring list country." No country was designated for enhanced analysis in this report.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, "The Treasury is closely monitoring whether our trading partners are manipulating currency through foreign-exchange intervention or nonmarket policies to secure an unfair competitive advantage."
He added, "To support President Trump's 'America First trade policy,' we are strengthening our analysis of trading partners' currency policies and practices starting with this report," and "the results of this analysis will be reflected in the Treasury's exchange-rate policy assessments."