Trump shows unusual brazenness on China currency flip-flop

A president flip-flopping on a promise to crack down on China's trade practices is not new. But what President Trump did was.

What was different about Trump's about-face last week on labeling China a currency manipulator was how directly he acknowledged that he was subordinating trade concerns to foreign policy considerations.

"From one perspective, you could look at that as candor," said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. "It's certainly a flip-flop. But it's striking in the scope of the reversal."

Trump stated his reasoning most candidly Saturday, when he tweeted that he wasn't going to name China a currency manipulator because "they are working with us on the North Korean problem."

During the presidential campaign, Trump had repeatedly called for naming China a currency manipulator, on Twitter, in op-eds and in speeches. Requiring the Treasury to designate a country a currency manipulator would set a process in motion that could, over time, result in penalties for China that certainly would raise the threat of retaliation.