US spares China manipulator tag, urges it to open trade

US Treasury report said it will be closely scrutinising China's trade and currency practices

Asian countries escaped the currency manipulator label in the latest US Treasury report, but remain wary of possible trade friction as President Donald Trump maintains his administration will seek to address trade imbalances.

Trump has said some US trading partners, particularly China, manipulated their currency, but has since backed off that claim and acknowledged that China had not weakened the yuan to make its exports cheaper.

China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan remained on a list for special monitoring of currency practices, China by virtue of a massive trade surplus with the United States.

“Fixing trade imbalances will be an