U.S. Treasury Keeps South Korea and 9 Other Countries on Currency Watchlist

The U.S. Donald Trump administration re-designated South Korea as a currency monitoring watchlist country on the 23rd (local time).

In its semi-annual report on the Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners submitted to the U.S. Federal Congress that day, the U.S. Treasury placed 10 countries, including South Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, and Thailand, on the currency watchlist.

All of these 10 countries were also included in the watchlist in the January report.

A currency monitoring watchlist country refers to a nation that requires continuous monitoring regarding whether the government intervenes in exchange rates to secure favorable trading conditions with the United States.

Regarding South Korea, the report analyzed that "despite a large current account surplus, the won has faced persistent depreciation pressures."

It added, "South Korean authorities have made progress in easing restrictions on foreign investors' participation in the domestic foreign exchange market," evaluating that "this is expected to help market liquidity and price discovery functions in the medium term."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.