BEIJING: Presidential candidate Mitt Romney would lack the legal power to label China a currency manipulator on his first day in office should he win Tuesday's election, offering him a way out of what experts say is the weakest claim on the issue for years.
The authority to make the formal accusation lies with the U.S. Treasury Secretary, which could be a face-saving remedy former U.S. officials say Romney might need after he repeatedly said he would declare China a currency manipulator, as part of his campaign to suggest President Barack Obama had been soft on the country.