China Exchange Rate Transparency Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 692) to require the United States Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund to advocate for increased transparency with respect to exchange rate policies of the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 692

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``China Exchange Rate Transparency Act of 2025''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds as follows:

(1) Under Article IV of the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the People's Republic of China has committed to orderly exchange rate arrangements, the avoidance of exchange rate manipulation, and cooperation with the IMF to ensure ``firm surveillance'' of the exchange rate policies of the People's Republic of China. Pursuant to Article VIII of the Articles of Agreement of the IMF, the IMF may require the People's Republic of China to furnish data on gold and foreign exchange holdings, including assets held by non-official agencies of the People's Republic of China.

(2) In its November 2022 report, entitled ``Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States'', the Department of the Treasury concluded, ``China provides very limited transparency regarding key features of its exchange rate mechanism, including the policy objectives of its exchange rate management regime and its activities in the offshore RMB market.''. The Department continued: ``China's lack of transparency and use of a wide array of tools complicate Treasury's ability to assess the degree to which official actions are designed to impact the exchange rate.''.

(3) In that report, the Department further noted that ``China's failure to publish foreign exchange intervention and broader lack of transparency around key features of its exchange rate mechanism make it an outlier among major economies and warrants Treasury's close monitoring.''. SEC. 3. ADVOCACY FOR INCREASED EXCHANGE RATE TRANSPARENCY FROM CHINA.

The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (in this Act referred to as the ``IMF'') to use the voice and vote of the United States to advocate for--

(1) increased transparency from the People's Republic of China, and enhanced multilateral and bilateral surveillance by the IMF, with respect to the exchange rate arrangements of the People's Republic of China, including any indirect foreign exchange market intervention through Chinese financial institutions or state-owned enterprises;

(2) in connection with consultations with the People's Republic of China under Article IV of the Articles of Agreement of the IMF, the inclusion of any significant divergences by the People's Republic of China from the exchange rate policies of other issuers of currencies used in determining the value of Special Drawing Rights; and

(3) during governance reviews of the IMF, stronger consideration by IMF members and management of the performance of China as a responsible stakeholder in the international monetary system when evaluating quota and voting shares at the IMF. SEC. 4. SUNSET.

This Act shall have no force or effect on or after the date that is 30 days after the earlier of--

(1) the date that the United States Governor of the IMF reports to the Congress that the People's Republic of China--

(A) is in substantial compliance with obligations of the People's Republic of China under the Articles of Agreement of the IMF regarding orderly exchange rate arrangements; and

(B) has undertaken exchange rate policies and practices consistent with those of other issuers of currencies used in determining the value of Special Drawing Rights; and

(2) the date that is 7 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 692, the China Exchange Rate Transparency Act. I thank my friend, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser), for his leadership in crafting and sponsoring this legislation.

I also congratulate him for assuming the chairmanship of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations for this, the 119th Congress. He is off to a superb start.

H.R. 692 is a critical tool as we reassess our economic relations with the People's Republic of China.

Unlike advanced economies with floating currencies, the Chinese manage their exchange rate through a nonindependent central bank and a state-owned set of financial institutions.

The Treasury Department has long been tasked with monitoring foreign countries' intervention in the currency markets, with a legal mandate from this House to call them out when manipulating exchange rates in order to gain an unfair trade advantage.

The problem with China is that its exchange rate management is so opaque that Treasury cannot effectively assess the country's exchange activities.

Year after year, Treasury reports back to Congress showing how Beijing's lack of transparency makes China an outlier among our major trading partners. This is not only alarming for the United States but the world at large as last year the People's Republic of China recorded a trade surplus of nearly $1 trillion.

Mr. Meuser's bill requires Treasury to lobby for stronger surveillance of Chinese currency practices at the International Monetary Fund, the primary institution overseeing foreign countries' exchange rate practices.

In addition, Treasury will have to push the IMF to highlight how China's opaque policies diverge from that of other major economies in the world.

H.R. 692 also requires Treasury to take China's lack of transparency into account when reviewing Beijing's shareholding level as a shareholder in the International Monetary Fund.

During the last shareholding review, Congress made it clear that an increase in voting power for China would be unacceptable given its absolute flouting of the multilateral rules of the road. To the IMF's credit, it agreed to keep China where it was.

Mr. Meuser's important bill underscores that future increases should also be off the table if China continues to shroud its exchange rate practices in secrecy.

Mr. Speaker, I, again, thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for sponsoring this measure. He is going after China in precisely the manner that Beijing most dislikes, by harnessing multilateral pressure across the world to hold this regime and Beijing accountable.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from California (Mr. Vargas) for his remarks, but I will point out to him that here on this House floor today, Mr. Speaker, on both sides of the aisle, we are talking about how to improve oversight through the multilateral process against some countries such as China who don't always have the best interests at heart, both in the trade market and in economic affairs in the country.

I believe that our recently elected, recently inaugurated President absolutely knows how to help hold them accountable. These are the exact kind of tools that will strengthen the hand of our new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as he thinks about going to multilateral meetings. These will strengthen the hand of our hopefully soon-to-be- confirmed colleague at the United Nations.

We are here on the House floor today to talk about how we can strengthen American leadership across the globe. One way to do that is to counter China's attempt to manipulate world's rules.
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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. I thank Mr. Meuser for his hard work on this bill.

To friends on both sides of the aisle, these are both significant reform efforts in the IMF to improve transparency and particularly for what we have seen over the years as a lack of being willing to play by the multilateral rules that all large developed economies have been doing. Therefore, I really support these bills.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 692, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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