Ex-Fed boss Bernanke says Trump's views on China don't 'fit with reality'
Ben Bernanke, the former head of the US Federal Reserve, has dismissed claims from president-elect Donald Trump that China is a currency manipulator.
Bernanke served as head of the Fed between 2006 and 2014, overseeing the global financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent bailout deal with the biggest banks in the US.
Trump has previously accused China of manipulating the yuan in order to gain trade advantages over other nations. He also threatened to introduce a 45% tariff on Chinese exports into America.
"One of the things the candidate said he would do was label China a currency manipulator, which means that China is keeping its currency artificially low in order get an advantage in exports," Bernanke said at the UBS Wealth Insights conference in Singapore.
"Of course, China right now is working very hard to keep the renminbi from falling. So it's a little bit inconsistent."
The yuan fell to an eight-year low in the aftermath of Trump's unexpected victory over Hillary Clinton, as the prospect of a trade conflict became more likely.
Bernanke affirmed however that he did not expect a hugely significant change in US-China trade relations as Trump takes over the Oval Office on Friday.
"It is a dangerous thing to try to interfere too much with our trade and I'm hopeful that this will be a very cautious process," he said.
Trump's incoming administration contains distinctive voices on trade, with some subscribing to a kinder view on global trade than others. The former Fed boss believes that this will cause plenty of "internal dissension".
"I think what we're going to see is a lot of internal dissension, where different points of view are fighting it out within the administration and the president is sort of broadcasting to the public what he's thinking in the moment," Bernanke said. "So there's a lot of uncertainty."