Republic of Korea Relisted Among 10 Currency Monitoring Countries by U.S. Treasury Department

According to The Financial News, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury Department) has again designated the Republic of Korea as a country on its foreign exchange monitoring list.
On the 29th (local time), the Treasury Department submitted its semiannual report to the U.S. Congress titled "Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners." In the report, it placed 10 countries, including the Republic of Korea, on the foreign exchange monitoring list and stated that their foreign exchange policies and broader macroeconomic policies require close scrutiny.
However, no country was designated as a currency manipulator.
The monitoring list includes the Republic of Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Republic of Singapore, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Federal Republic of Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland. Thailand was newly added in this report, while the other nine countries retained their existing status.
The Republic of Korea was removed from the foreign exchange monitoring list in November 2023, about seven years after it was first placed there in April 2016, but it was added back in November 2024, shortly before the Donald Trump administration took office. Its monitoring status was maintained in both last June's report and the latest report.
Under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, the United States of America (US) has been assessing the macroeconomic and exchange rate policies of its top 20 trading partners by trade volume.
The evaluation criteria are as follows: a bilateral trade surplus with the US of at least 15 billion dollars; a current account surplus of at least 3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP); and net purchases of foreign currency amounting to at least 2% of GDP over at least eight of the past 12 months. Countries that meet all three criteria are classified as "countries subject to enhanced analysis," while those that meet two are placed on the "monitoring list."
The latest report indicated that no country was designated as subject to enhanced analysis.
Scott Bessent said, "The Treasury Department closely monitors whether our trading partners manipulate their exchange rates to gain an unfair competitive advantage through intervention in foreign exchange markets or through non-market policies."
He added, "To support President Donald Trump's America First trade policy, we are strengthening our analysis of trading partners' currency policies and practices, starting with this report," and continued, "The results of this analysis will be reflected in the Treasury Department's assessment of exchange rate policies."


jjyoon@fnnews.com Yoon Jae-joon Reporter