THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2010
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The World A15
House bill backs Obama’s play on China’s currency
BY HOWARD SCHNEIDER House leaders are moving for-
ward with legislation to combat China’s currency policies, adding to pressure from the Obama administration and giving law- makers an election-year chance to vote on a sensitive trade matter. The House Ways and Means
Committee plans to vote Friday on a bill that would expand the Commerce Department’s power to impose duties on Chinese imports in response to that coun- try’s currency being undervalued on worldmarkets. The effect of China’s currency
policy is tomake its goods cheap- er, but federal rules restrict Com- merce’s ability to respond as forcefully as in other instances in which a government under- writes exports. After months in which the
ALIOSHA MARQUEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS Javier Castillo, secretary of the San Jose mine union, speaks to miners. The rescue of those trapped underground could come in mid-October. Trapped Chilean miners prepare for fame chile from A1
to ask the interviewer to repeat the question if they don’t under- stand it, “andhowto say that they prefer not to answer,” said Iturra, who has counseled the men for weeks. Experts working with the min-
ers say it will be difficult to shield them from the media onslaught after their release, now estimated for mid-October. One of the miners, Mario Sep-
ulvedra, who narrated a video from below, “is going to have a huge opportunity in TV. . . . Obvi- ously there is going to be huge interest in working with him,” Diaz said. Sepulvedra wowed an interna-
tional audience with his relaxed, informative and dramatic narra- tion of an underground video in whichthe minersshowcased with pride their precarious world. The media attention at the mine is influencing the rescue
operation: A “media platform” half the size of a football field has been built at the scene to accom- modate the estimated 500 to 1,000 reporters expected to flood the usually abandoned corner of the Atacama Desert. The rescue effort involves
strapping the men inside a torpe- do-shaped capsule — dubbed the Phoenix — and winching them one by one up a 700-meter shaft. The miners will then be flown by helicopter to a nearby military base. The miners’ survival is in little
doubt. They receive food and wa- ter regularly, and handwritten messages from their families and friends via a tube that carries pods known as “palomas,” or pi- geons. A second tube delivers enriched oxygen, and a third is used for videoconferencing. A debate has erupted over
whether the men should be taken to a private clinic where they will be sheltered from the media — a
plan psychologists support — or to a public clinic for three or four days, as the Chilean government wants, to showcase the country’s muchmaligned public health sys- tem.
Despite efforts to diversify ex-
ports, Chile is still a mining na- tion, with more than 50 percent of its exports related to copper. Miners are such an integral part of the nation that many people refer to copper as “The nation’s salary.” The state-run company Codel-
co and international compa- nies such as Anglo American run world-class mining operations in the desert here. But smaller oper- ations such as the San Jose mine often operate on the edge of legal- ity. Several fatal accidents have occurred at the mine, which the Chilean mine safety commission has temporarily shut down nu- merous times. President Sebas- tian Pinera was led to fire the head of the national mine safety
inspection unit. But the life of miners, shielded
from view, hidden deep under- ground, has moved into the na- tional consciousness only with the crisis at the San Jose mine. Now, Chileans seem interested in every facet of thisunknownworld — from the daily dangers to the mundane routine of this subcul- ture.
“Once these miners get out,
they will have a high level of fame in their country and will face huge pressure from society and the media,” saidMichael Duncan, deputy chief medical officer at Johnston Space Center in Hous- ton, who is advising the govern- ment on the rescue operations. “Our experience and that of oth- ers shows that the work just beginswhenthe miners get out of the mine.”
Franklin is a freelance writer based in Santiago.
administration encouraged Chi- na to allow the value of its currency to float more freely — and saw little progress — House leaders said they felt it was time to push ahead. “Clearly, China has a strategy
as to how it competes in an increasingly globalized econom- ic world. The American people want the assurance that our nation has a strategy,” Ways and Means Chairman Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.) said in a written statement. “Our citizens sense that for us to compete effectively it cannot include acceptance of a structure . . . that allows the important nation of China to artificially tilt the playing field.” A vote on the House floor is
expected next week. Levin’s statement said the legislation had been amended to make it consistent with World Trade Or- ganization rules. Similar legisla- tion is pending in the Senate, but no committee vote has been announced. Some business groups oppose
the bill, arguing that it could backfire if it raises trade tensions with China and prompts the Chinese government to use the many tools at its disposal to interfere with American compa-
nies. China is a major destina- tion for U.S. exports—about $70 billion a year — although the United States runs a trade deficit of about $200 billion a year with that country. Duties on Chinese imports might also raise prices for U.S. consumers. Regardless of whether legisla-
tion is enacted before Congress adjourns in coming days for the midterm elections, the vote could figure in the campaign and in the administration’s diplomat- ic pressure on China. High unemployment and the
sluggish economy are central issues in the elections, and the steady flowof Chinese imports— resurgent after the recent reces- sion — has been connected by some economists and lawmakers from both parties to the loss of Americanmanufacturing jobs. Estimates of the undervalua-
tion of the yuan, also known as the renminbi, run as high as 40 percent. The Obama administration,
like the Bush administration be- fore it, has preferred to address the currency issue through diplo- matic channels. The United States has refrained from desig- nating China a currency “manip- ulator” under U.S. laws and in- stead has used platforms such as the Group of 20 nations to press for change. The G-20, the Inter- national Monetary Fund and other organizations
have
stressed that China’s large trade surpluses are a problem for the world economy and that an ex- change rate that was more free- floating would be one way to address the situation. Negotiationswon a 20 percent
rise in the yuan during President George W. Bush’s tenure, but there has been little change in the currency’s value since Chi- nese officials promised in June that its management of the cur- rency would be relaxed. Last week, Treasury Secretary
Timothy F. Geithner signaled a tougher stance and told lawmak- ers that he thought pressure from their end might help per- suade the Chinese tomove.
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