Appreciation in China’s Currency Goes Largely Unnoted

Appreciation in China’s Currency Goes Largely Unnoted - NYTimes.com:

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With little fanfare, China’s currency has appreciated significantly in the last year and a half, leading many economists to question whether the exchange rate is still the most important economic issue for the United States to press with China’s leaders.

The rise of the renminbi — up 12 percent since June 2010 on an inflation-adjusted basis and 40 percent since 2005 — has helped American companies by effectively reducing the cost of their products in China. In the last two years, American exports to China have risen sharply.

The renminbi remains undervalued, relative to all other currencies, by 5 to 20 percent, according to various estimates. But many business executives and economists say that other issues, like intellectual-property theft and barriers to entering Chinese markets, are now a bigger drag on the American economy.