![]() Deposits of the metal in China were not significant, so it came from abroad, first from Japan and then from the Americas. Spanish silver was an important part of the Chinese monetary system. 1888 “Trade Coins” from Mexico with multiple “chop” marks made by Chinese merchants to verify their authenticity ( right). Silver peso of Philip V of Spain minted in Mexico in 1739 ( left). In fact, Spanish, and later Mexican, silver dollars were legal tender in the United States through the 1850s. In the United States, Alexander Hamilton used them as an important reference point for his “Report on the Coinage” that ultimately put the United States on a bimetallic monetary system. The traders had to settle the remaining balance with Spanish silver dollars.įrom Mexico City to Manila, Spanish silver dollars flowed through the arteries of global commerce in the 18 th and 19 th centuries. The goods the Americans were bringing would not be enough to procure the products they hoped to buy. The ship also had something else in its cargo: more than 20,000 Spanish silver coins. The Empress of China in 1876, nearly 100 years after it left New York harbor for China as the first American merchant vessel to enter Chinese waters.īacked by Robert Morris, financier of the American Revolution, the Empress of China departed the newly established United States with furs, ginseng, and other goods to trade in Canton. The newly independent United States wanted a part of this trade. Founded in 1644, the Qing was the last imperial dynasty in Chinese history but, before its end, it became one of the largest and most prosperous empires in the world whose trade goods-teas, silks, porcelains-became valued all over the world. In 1783, the ship Empress of China left New York harbor and headed to Canton, the sole port open to foreign trade during the Qing dynasty. The Early American Republic and the Qing dynasty The currency question in U.S.-China trade relations has been around for more than 200 years. Congress sought to label China a “currency manipulator.” However, by end of the 20 th century and into the early 2000s, the fixed exchange rate between the Chinese renminbi (the people’s currency, RMB) and the dollar became a source of tension between the two largest economies in the world as many in the U.S. These office buildings off the Pearl River were known as the American Garden.Ĭhinese officials in the 19 th and 20 th centuries at times resisted these American overtures and at times sought to draw the United States into supporting China’s currency and, in turn, its government.Īfter the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 and the start of Reform and Opening under Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s, trade between the United States and China increased dramatically. And they have often sought to create closer links between the American and Chinese monetary systems to help foster this trade.įrom 1757 to 1842, almost all Western trade with China was confined to this neighborhood known as the Canton Factories in present day Guangdong Province. Since the founding of the United States, merchants, government officials, economists and journalists pondered how to increase trade with the world’s most populous nation to benefit American economic growth. Some single out human rights issues, others Chinese foreign policy, but the most common rhetorical barbs tie back to trade and currency. In most recent presidential election cycles, candidates take shots at the People’s Republic of China. ![]() President Barak Obama and President Xi Jinping toast during a 2014 State Banquet in Beijing, China. Chinese action to keep the value of its currency low, Trump insists, is “robbing Americans of billions of dollars of capital and millions of jobs.” It is a favorite phrase of Donald Trump, the real estate mogul, turned reality television star, turned Republican nominee and now, President-elect of the United States.
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