BBC Learning English
Words in the News
Obama criticises China over currency

14

th

November 2011

Words in the News

© British Broadcasting Corporation 2011

Page 1 of 2

bbclearningenglish.com

The US President Barack Obama has criticised China for not allowing its currency, the
yuan, to rise in value. The comment was made at the end of the APEC Asia-Pacific
regional summit in Hawaii. The issue has been a sore point between the United States
and China for several years as our business reporter Jon Bithrey explains:

President Obama's comments criticising China are amongst his strongest to date. In
general the US government has preferred to make its feelings known behind closed
doors, cautious about upsetting one of its biggest trading partners.

During a news conference, Mr Obama said many economists believed the yuan was
undervalued by between 20 and 25%, making exports to China from the US much more
expensive and imports much cheaper.

He said China had to operate by the same rules as everyone. Earlier China's foreign
ministry issued a statement saying President Obama was told by his counterpart, Hu
Jintao, that the problems in the American economy wouldn't be solved by an
appreciation of the yuan.

President Obama is certainly under pressure on the domestic front. With the American
economy still flagging, calls from politicians are mounting for tougher measures to be
taken to force China to change its stance.

And with President Obama entering an election year, he may feel now is the time to raise
the rhetoric.

John Bithrey, BBC News

Words in the News

© British Broadcasting Corporation 2011

Page 2 of 2

bbclearningenglish.com

Vocabulary and definitions

behind closed doors

in private

upsetting

displeasing

trading partners

countries that buy and sell goods with each other

undervalued

been kept at a lower rate in relation to major currencies

counterpart

in the equivalent post

an appreciation

an increased valuation

flagging

performing weakly

mounting

increasing

stance

position

rhetoric

language designed to persuade

More on this story:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15715675

Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2011/11/111114_witn_obama_china.shtml