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China President Rebuffs Obama

Refuses to adjust yuan policy.

Could Jon Huntsman have done any better? In an exchange with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Hawaii today, President Obama’s call for China to let its currency rise in value was swiftly rebuffed. An White House adviser told reporters Obama told Hu that the U.S. was becoming “increasingly impatient and frustrated” about the artificially low yuan, which critics say gives an unfair advantage to Chinese exports. But Hu countered that America’s economic problems wouldn’t be helped by any changes to the yuan. Elsewhere, Obama achieved some success: He secured a framework with the leaders of eight nations to being developing a free-trade zone in the Asian Pacific.