AP Photo/Susan Walsh White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow speaks to reporters in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019
- White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Friday that the administration has decided to not take steps to artificially weaken the dollar.
- Such a policy would be precluded by commitments among economic powers and with the International Monetary Fund, according to experts.
- "We don't want that kind of manipulation ... We have as a matter of policy ruled out currency intervention," Kudlow told CNBC in an interview.
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White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Friday that the administration has decided to not take steps to artificially weaken the dollar, a controversial practice President Donald Trump appeared to suggest in recent weeks.
"We don't want that kind of manipulation ... We have as a matter of policy ruled out currency intervention," Kudlow told CNBC in an interview.
A White House spokesperson referred comment requests to the Council of Economic Advisers, which did not immediately respond to an email inquiry.
Bloomberg News reported in July that Trump asked aides to look into ways to weaken the dollar, a move that can boost exports and make imports more expensive. He has publicly suggested such a policy move in recent weeks, saying it would allow the US to compete against stimulus measures abroad.
"China and Europe playing big currency manipulation game and pumping money into their system in order to compete with USA," Trump wrote on Twitter early this month. "We should MATCH, or continue being the dummies who sit back and politely watch as other countries continue to play their games - as they have for many years!"
Such an action would be precluded by commitments among economic powers and with the International Monetary Fund, according to experts. Trump has long hammered global trading partners with accusations of currency manipulation and campaigned on a so-far unfulfilled promise to penalize China for allegedly doing so.
Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with the strength of the dollar as his administration pursues its signature "America First" agenda, slapping tariffs on major trading partners. Economists said the dollar has strengthened in part because of policies such as the $1.5 trillion tax-cut package that was passed in 2017.
Kudlow claimed on Friday that Trump does not want a weak dollar. But the president has repeatedly criticized the strength of the currency in his broadsides against the independent Federal Reserve and pressured policymakers to loosen monetary policy. Higher interest rates can strengthen a currency.