A US congressional panel turned up the pressure on China over the yuan yesterday, approving a bill that would let the United States slap punishing duties on imports from China.

In a move likely to increase trade tensions with China, the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee backed the legislation on a voice vote and cleared the way for the full House to take it up next week.

The measure may never become law, however, as it faces an uncertain future in the Senate.

Sander Levin, the committee chairman, said the bill would give the US new tools to address China's "currency manipulation" because diplomaticpressure has not yielded satisfactory results.

The panel's approval came one day after US President Barack Obama pressed Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on its currency in talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.

Obama urged China to do more to move its currency toward a market-based exchange rate, and Wen said Beijing planned to push ahead with reforms, disclosed Jeffrey Bader, a senioradviser to Obama on Asian issues.

The Obama administration has performed a cautious balancing act over the legislation. Senior US officials have not publicly embraced it but neither have they sought to block it, leaving the door open for lawmakers to press ahead.

"We will carefully examine any proposals put forward by Congress, but we have not taken a position on the legislation," a Treasury spokesman said.

Republican critics said Democrats were raising the currency issue now with the hope it will help them in the November 2 elections, which have been dominated by a fiercedebate over the struggling economy and persistently high unemployment.

The panel's top Republican, Dave Camp, said he backed the bill because changes made to the legislation would bring it more into line with World Trade Organization rules.

If the measure becomes law, China would likely challenge it at the WTO, exposing US exports to trade retaliation if Beijing won the case.

Wen said on Wednesday that the exchange rate of the yuan against the dollar is not the main reason for the US trade deficit with China.

The bill amends US trade law to essentially allow the US Commerce Department to treat an undervalued currency as an export subsidy if certain criteria are met.

Ways and Means Committee aides said the bill does not guarantee the Commerce Department would apply countervailing duties against undervalued currencies, but removes an important hurdle.

Earlier this week, eight former US Commerce Secretaries and Trade Representatives warned that expanding the US countervailing duty law to treat undervalued currencies as a subsidy could backfire on the United States.

Currency legislation could undermine US pressure on China to lower trade barriers, stop piracy and counterfeiting and change policies that threaten other US intellectual property rights, they said.

• pressure [´preʃə] n.压榨 vt.对...施压力 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• legislation [,ledʒis´leiʃən] n.立法；法规 (初中英语单词)
• measure [´meʒə] n.量度；范围 vt.测量 (初中英语单词)
• uncertain [ʌn´sə:tn] a.不定的；不可靠的 (初中英语单词)
• satisfactory [,sætis´fæktəri] a.令人满意的 (初中英语单词)
• premier [´premiə] n.总理 a.首要的 (初中英语单词)
• assembly [ə´sembli] n.集会；装配；与会者 (初中英语单词)
• administration [əd,minis´treiʃən] n.管理(事务等)；经营 (初中英语单词)
• fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
• debate [di´beit] n.&v.讨论，辩论 (初中英语单词)
• economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中英语单词)
• challenge [´tʃælindʒ] n.&vt.向....挑战；怀疑 (初中英语单词)
• wednesday [´wenzdi] n.星期三 (初中英语单词)
• commerce [´kɔmə:s] n.商业；社交；交流 (初中英语单词)
• export [ik´spɔ:t] vt.&n.输出，出口 (初中英语单词)
• threaten [´θretn] v.恐吓；有....的危险 (初中英语单词)
• senate [´senit] n.参议院；上院 (高中英语单词)
• approval [ə´pru:vəl] n.赞成，批准，认可 (高中英语单词)
• currency [´kʌrənsi] n.通货；通用；货币 (高中英语单词)
• senior [´si:niə] a.年长的 n.前辈 (高中英语单词)
• adviser [əd´vaizə] n.顾问 =advisor (高中英语单词)
• unemployment [,ʌnim´plɔimənt] n.失业；失业人数 (高中英语单词)
• guarantee [,gærən´ti:] n.保证；担保 vt.允诺 (高中英语单词)
• intellectual [,inti´lektʃuəl] n.知识分子 (高中英语单词)
• congressional [kɔŋ´greʃənl] a.会议的；国(议)会的 (英语四级单词)
• diplomatic [,diplə´mætik] a.外交的 (英语四级单词)
• cautious [´kɔ:ʃəs] a.小心的；谨慎的 (英语四级单词)
• republican [ri´pʌblikən] a.共和国的 n.共和论者 (英语四级单词)
• essentially [i´senʃəli] ad.本质上，基本上 (英语四级单词)
• publicly [´pʌblikli] ad.公然；公众所有地 (英语六级单词)
• spokesman [´spəuksmən] n.发言人 (英语六级单词)
• deficit [´defisit] n.缺乏，赤字，亏空 (英语六级单词)
• amends [ə´mendz] n.赔偿；赔罪 (英语六级单词)
• undermine [,ʌndə´main] vt.在...下面掘地道 (英语六级单词)