TWO US senators, Republican Lindsay Graham and Democrat Charles Schumer, recently visited China and Hong Kong. Had the two decided to push through their protectionist legislation, global financial markets may have behaved differently since then.
On Feb 3, 2005 they offered their legislation as an amendment to the Foreign Affairs Authorisation Act. This bill calls for a 180-day negotiation period between China and the US to revalue the renminbi. If the talks were not successful, a temporary tariff of 27.5% would be imposed on all products from China entering the US.