US Democratic Senator Charles Schumer and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham agreed on November 16 to delay vote on a bill threatening China with a 27.5 percent tariff on its exports to the United States, waiting to see if President George Bush's visit to China would make progress on the RMB exchange rate issue, reports the International Finance News. According to the bill if China does not allow the value of RMB to appreciate considerably the US would impose a 27.5 percent punitive tariff on Chinese imports.

Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham reached an agreement with Senate leader on November16 to delay vote on the bill until December 23. If China adopts measures to allow RMB to appreciate they may delay the vote until March 31 next year. The US Senate had planned to vote this month on the bill tabled by Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham early this year.

Charles Schumer said they hope the US President's visit to China would achieve positive results and they are willing to delay the vote until the President returns from his visit. Lindsey Graham said he is cautiously optimistic that President Bush's visit to China this weekend would persuade China to adopt further steps to make RMB exchange rate more flexible.

By People's Daily Online