From Bloomberg News (link)
Oakley Millwork Inc. is benefiting from China’s undervalued currency, using lower-priced imported hinges to hold down the cost of the custom doors and windows it sells in the U.S.
That doesn’t stop Glen Johnson, president of the Frankfort, Illinois-based company, from arguing that President George W. Bush should demand a revalued currency when he meets Chinese President Hu Jintao tomorrow. Without such a revaluation, which would increase the cost of Chinese imports, “ultimately we lose customers, because unemployed Americans don’t buy houses,” Johnson says.
Johnson’s comments reflect the divisions and conflicts among U.S. companies toward China and its lopsided trade relationship with the U.S., currently valued at $285 billion annually.
Also see “China-US relations blow hot and cold”, BBC Beijing correspondent Daniel Griffiths looks at how Chinese attitudes towards the US are changing (link).
And “China’s Oil Needs Are High on U.S. Agenda” by New York Times’ David Sanger (link)