Snow Says Quiet Diplomacy Working On Chinese Currency Issue.

Treasury Secretary Snow said today the Chinese must be more aggressive in allowing their currency to rise in value against the U.S. dollar, and predicted a gradual improvement over the next year, the Associated Press reported. Testifying before the House Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Subcommittee, Snow was pressed on the currency issue, which critics see as a contributing factor to the soaring trade deficit with China. That deficit hit an all-time high of $202 billion last year. Snow said he believed the administration's efforts were beginning to show results. "I think we are on the right path through quiet diplomacy," he said. "Over the course of this year and next, I think we are going to see the currency move more and more and move in the direction of higher valuation." But he said it was unlikely that the Chinese would move "in one fell swoop" to a system in which the yuan's value is allowed to be set totally by market forces.