THE United States on Friday flagged concerns over economic policies in China, China’s Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Germany and put them on a new monitoring list, mostly due to their large surpluses.

    It is the first time the U.S. Treasury has implemented provisions passed in Congress this year as part of a trade bill that provided it with new ways to address possible unfair currency practices.

    None of the five satisfied the criteria for enhanced scrutiny, which is triggered when a country has a significant bilateral trade surplus with the United States, a material current account surplus and engages in persistent one-sided intervention in the currency market.

    Still, Treasury said it would closely monitor the five regions’ economic trends and foreign exchange policies.

    In its semi-annual report to Congress on the economic and currency policies of a dozen major trade partners, the Treasury did not label any major trade partner a currency manipulator, a custom it has kept for the past 22 years.

    The United States has for years called for countries with current account surpluses to do more to boost lackluster domestic demand.

    Trade has emerged as a flashpoint in the U.S. presidential campaign, where some leading contenders have blasted trade pacts as having cost American jobs and railed against countries they say have weakened their currencies to boost exports.

    In its report, Treasury said that China, Japan, South Korea and Germany all had a significant bilateral trade surplus with the United States and a material current account surplus.

    A significant trade surplus with the United States is defined by Treasury as a country with a bilateral trade surplus of more than US$20 billion.

    Treasury determines a country has a material current account surplus when its surplus is larger than 3 percent of that economy’s gross domestic product.

    Low oil prices had swelled the coffers of oil importing countries and regions, including China, Germany, Taiwan and South Korea.

    In particular, Treasury noted Germany had the second-largest current account surplus in the world, part of which could “be used to support German domestic demand.”

    (SD-Agencies)