A Page out of the Yuan Playbook

So, I came across this article today in regards to the loss in value of the U.S. dollar we've been experiencing. Some notable quotables:

• "American exports, made more competitive by a weaker currency, are helping prop up economic growth, offsetting slumps in housing and corporate spending. The euro's 2.5 percent gain since the end of January, meanwhile, should help Trichet combat inflation, complementing the ECB's interest-rate increases."
  

• "While Paulson...has hewed to U.S. policy of the last decade by backing a "strong dollar,'' he has coupled it with a view that markets, not governments, set exchange rates. That has allowed him to shrug off the dollar's decline, especially because it aids his nation's economy by making American products cheaper overseas. Exports are providing the U.S. with a needed boost after growth slowed to an average annual rate of 2.4 percent in the last three quarters of 2006, having expanded 3.2 percent in the prior year."

• "For U.S. policy makers, a weaker dollar against the euro is not even on their radar screens as long as it's happening in an orderly fashion.''
  

• "Meanwhile, China's yuan, whose movements are limited by the government, gained 0.5 percent against the dollar, while declining 3.2 percent versus the euro...The result: European officials will likely join Paulson in urging China to let the yuan strengthen more. The G-7 on Feb. 10 called on countries with widening trade surpluses -- especially China -- to let their exchange rates "move'' more against those of trading rivals. Trichet and fellow Europeans may also repeat their February warning to investors to avoid making "one-way bets'' against the yen."

• "Even a modest drop in the dollar would help fortify the world economy by narrowing international imbalances such as the U.S. current-account deficit...The shortfall reached a record 6.5 percent of gross domestic product last year."

• "The impact of the dollar's decline against the euro is already emerging. Europe last year posted its first annual trade deficit since 2000, while U.S. net exports contributed the most to U.S. growth in a decade during the fourth quarter."

• "There is no clear reason for the U.S. to stand in the way of a weaker dollar,'' said Sophia Drossos, a currency strategist at Morgan Stanley in New York."