Research On The Legal Issues Of RMB Exchange Rate In Sino-us Trade Friction

On September 22,1985,the United States,Japan,Germany,France and Britain held a meeting at the Plaza Hotel in New York and signed the famous Plaza Accord.According to the agreement,the yen gradually appreciated against the US dollar,and soon after that,Japan’s economic development fell into a long period of downturn or even stagnation.Today,there are still different opinions on the signing of the Plaza Accord.Some people say it is a successful model of international exchange rate cooperation.Others say it is a carefully planned layout by the United States and the culprit of Japan’s economic stagnation.Today’s China,like Japan at that time,is in a sustained trade surplus with the United States.Therefore,speculation about whether there will be Plaza Accord2.0 has often appeared in recent years.In order to respond to this speculation,it is necessary to objectively understand this major event in that year and obtain appropriate experience and lessons,which still needs us to go back to the background and comb it carefully.Through a comprehensive understanding of the economic,trade and political backgrounds of the United States and Japan before the signing of the Plaza Agreement,we have an insight into the factors affecting and contributing to the signing of the Plaza Agreement,and then explore the reasons for the decades long stagnation of the Japanese economy after the signing of the agreement.The main conclusion of this paper is: the appreciation of the yen brought by the Plaza Agreement,It was related to the formation and collapse of Japan’s bubble economy later.The signing of the Plaza Accord and the appreciation of the yen are not the decisive factors in this process,but they are also important elements that cannot be ignored.The lesson of Japan’s economic stagnation deserves our attention to exchange rate related issues.The background of the signing of the Plaza Accord and the appreciation of the yen is the continuous trade friction between Japan and the United States,which has gradually evolved from the micro industrial friction to the field of exchange rate.This has many similarities with the current background of Sino-US trade relations,but today’s Sino-US relations have many differences from that between Japan and the United States.According to the author’s analysis,although it is unlikely that "Plaza Accord 2.0" will appear in the context of current Sino-US political and economic relations,the United States has never stopped charging about issues related to RMB exchange rate,and the field of exchange rate finance has become one of the focuses of Sino-US trade friction.The US accusations against the RMB issue mainly include two points: one is that China constitutes exchange rate manipulation,and the other is that the undervaluation of the RMB constitutes subsidies.After analysis,the author believes that according to the current international rules,it is difficult to stand up whether the accusation of China’s exchange rate manipulation or the accusation of RMB exchange rate undervaluation as a subsidy.In recent years,according to the provisions of its domestic law,the United States unilaterally identified other countries as exchange rate manipulators,or identified currency undervaluation as subsidies,which has had a negative impact on the international economic order and global financial system,and is also an expression of American trade protectionism.In view of the above issues related to the RMB exchange rate,the author believes that on the one hand,China must accelerate the adjustment of domestic economic structure,expand domestic demand and constantly explore the path of sustainable economic development.At the same time,on the exchange rate issue,China should strengthen the research on international rules and domestic laws of the United States,and use legal weapons to defend the sovereignty of exchange rate.In addition,we should promote the reform of the relevant mechanisms of WTO and IMF so that they can play their original role.