§ 5304. — International negotiations on exchange rate and economic policies.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 22USC5304]
TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE
CHAPTER 62--INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL POLICY
SUBCHAPTER I--EXCHANGE RATES AND INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY
COORDINATION
Sec. 5304. International negotiations on exchange rate and
economic policies
(a) Multilateral negotiations
The President shall seek to confer and negotiate with other
countries--
(1) to achieve--
(A) better coordination of macroeconomic policies of the
major industrialized nations; and
(B) more appropriate and sustainable levels of trade and
current account balances, and exchange rates of the dollar and
other currencies consistent with such balances; and
(2) to develop a program for improving existing mechanisms for
coordination and improving the functioning of the exchange rate
system to provide for long-term exchange rate stability consistent
with more appropriate and sustainable current account balances.
(b) Bilateral negotiations
The Secretary of the Treasury shall analyze on an annual basis the
exchange rate policies of foreign countries, in consultation with the
International Monetary Fund, and consider whether countries manipulate
the rate of exchange between their currency and the United States dollar
for purposes of preventing effective balance of payments adjustments or
gaining unfair competitive advantage in international trade. If the
Secretary considers that such manipulation is occurring with respect to
countries that (1) have material global current account surpluses; and
(2) have significant bilateral trade surpluses with the United States,
the Secretary of the Treasury shall take action to initiate negotiations
with such foreign countries on an expedited basis, in the International
Monetary Fund or bilaterally, for the purpose of ensuring that such
countries regularly and promptly adjust the rate of exchange between
their currencies and the United States dollar to permit effective
balance of payments adjustments and to eliminate the unfair advantage.
The Secretary shall not be required to initiate negotiations in cases
where such negotiations would have a serious detrimental impact on vital
national economic and security interests; in such cases, the Secretary
shall inform the chairman and the ranking minority member of the
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and of
the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs of the House of
Representatives of his determination.
(Pub. L. 100-418, title III, Sec. 3004, Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1373.)
Change of Name
Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs of House of
Representatives treated as referring to Committee on Banking and
Financial Services of House of Representatives by section 1(a) of Pub.
L. 104-14, set out as a note preceding section 21 of Title 2, The
Congress. Committee on Banking and Financial Services of House of
Representatives abolished and replaced by Committee on Financial
Services of House of Representatives, and jurisdiction over matters
relating to securities and exchanges and insurance generally transferred
from Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives by
House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Seventh Congress, Jan. 3, 2001.
Negotiations on Currency Exchange Rates
Section 1124 of Pub. L. 100-418 provided that:
``(a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
``(1) the benefit of trade concessions can be adversely affected
by misalignments in currency, and
``(2) misalignments in currency caused by government policies
intended to maintain an unfair trade advantage tend to nullify and
impair trade concessions.
``(b) Negotiations.--Whenever, in the course of negotiating a trade
agreement under this subtitle [subtitle A (Secs. 1101 to 1125) of title
I of Pub. L. 100-418, see Tables for classification], the President is
advised by the Secretary of the Treasury that a foreign country that is
a party to the negotiations satisfies the criteria for initiating
bilateral currency negotiations listed in section 3004(b) of this Act
[22 U.S.C. 5304(b)], the Secretary of the Treasury shall take action to
initiate bilateral currency negotiations on an expedited basis with such
foreign country.''
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in section 5305 of this title.
