Former GOP presidential hopeful and real estate tycoon Donald Trump says he endorsed Mitt Romney for president due to his stance on China's currency policies.
While many had expected Trump to rally behind Gingrich, Trump says he was impressed with Romney's tough talk against the Asian superpower, long accused of manipulating its currency to give it an unfair advantage in the global trade arena.
"What they're doing with their currency is unbelievable," Trump tells CNBC.
"They are currency manipulators totally beyond anything that anybody's ever seen before and it makes it impossible or very, very hard for other countries to compete with their companies."
Trump says he was impressed when Romney said he would declare China a currency manipulator "if they don't change their ways very quickly."
Calls for China to run a more transparent exchange-rate policy have been growing, including from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who insists that Beijing honor commitments made to the Group of 20 nation to free up its currency.
"China committed to move more rapidly toward a market-determined exchange rate system, enhance exchange rate flexibility to reflect underlying fundamentals, and refrain from competitive devaluation of its currency," at a November G-20 meeting in France, Harper tells the Xinhua news agency, as reported by Bloomberg.
Although the Chinese yuan has appreciated somewhat, "it is important for the credibility of China’s policymakers and the G-20 that China follows through on its commitments."
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