A trade pact among Pacific-region nations should include provisions to prevent currency manipulation, Representative Sander Levin said, siding with U.S. automakers in expressing concern about Japan’s economic policies as the nation formally joins the talks.
“We need an enforceable obligation to avoid manipulating exchange rates,” Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Ways & Means Committee, said today in remarks for a speech at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
The provision is included in a broader plan Levin unveiled to encourage Japan to open its auto sector to more foreign competition.
Japan today joins 11 nations working to create the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade zone that would link an area with about $26 trillion in annual economic output. Japan’s participation has rankled U.S. automakers, who say the Tokyo government’s policies favor domestic manufacturers, and environmental groups, who say the Asian nation’s need for liquefied natural gas will lead to more drilling in the U.S.