Chinese yuan
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Trump’s said he thinks China is a “currency manipulator” again

He thinks China is deliberately making its currency worth less, so that it can sell goods more cheaply abroad.

Trump's given an exclusive interview to Reuters in which he said again he thinks China is a "currency manipulator".

What it means: Trump and China's leader Xi Jinping have a meeting this Wednesday to talk about this whole trade war mess. Trump's accusation in this interview isn't a great start to the atmosphere.

So what does currency manipulation mean? Every currency holds a value depending on how keen people are to own it. If your currency is worth a lot, that means that 'buying' some of it in another currency will be quite expensive – for example, if the dollar was very pricey, you might need three or four pounds to buy a dollar. That's known as a high 'exchange rate'.

But sometimes countries would prefer a low exchange rate, so that their exports are cheaper. If, for example, China sells toys to America at 10 yuan each, but the yuan is only worth 0.05 dollars, then Chinese toys will be incredibly cheap to Americans – meaning Americans will buy lots of them.

Trump thinks China is purposefully keeping the value of its currency low so that its exports are more popular with customers abroad. The value of the yuan has dropped by 10% since the tariffs came in last month, and Trump thinks that happened because of an intentional move by the Chinese government to combat the effects of the tariffs.

Read the full story: Reuters 

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