<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><a href="http://thehill.com/policy/finance/253755-senators-push-for-aggressive-currency-manipulation-language" style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" class="">http://thehill.com/policy/finance/253755-senators-push-for-aggressive-currency-manipulation-language</a></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Senators push for aggressive currency manipulation language<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">The Hill<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">By Vicki Needham<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">September 15, 2015 at 6:09pm<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white;" class="">A bipartisan group of senators are calling on the Obama administration to more aggressively address currency manipulation through global trade agreements. <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; widows: 1;" class="">Led by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the lawmakers sent a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=a580ab39-42cc-4a6e-aeb3-69acf0e14945" style="color: purple;" class=""><b class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);" class="">letter</span></b></a> on Tuesday to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew requesting an update as to where the currency issue stands in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; widows: 1;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class="">“Recent comments by foreign TPP negotiators to Senate staff members suggest very little progress has been made on this issue,” the seven senators wrote. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white;" class="">“We would appreciate your perspective as to the impact these devaluations are having on U.S. workers and your efforts to address them in the continuing TPP negotiations,” they wrote. <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; widows: 1;" class="">Brown and Portman, among others, have repeatedly called for TPP negotiations to include strong provisions that address currency manipulation, which they argue hurts U.S. auto exports and workers.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; widows: 1;" class="">They reiterated concerns about foreign countries devaluing their currency, including China, Vietnam and Korea, saying it “could lead to a pattern of competitive devaluation within the Asia-Pacific that could hurt U.S. workers and exports for years to come.”<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; widows: 1;" class="">“Thus, currency issues must be addressed seriously, aggressively and promptly.”<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; widows: 1;" class="">Along with Brown and Portman, the letter was also signed by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).<o:p class=""></o:p></p><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>