A weak yen has some advantages for export-driven Japan; it could help revive the economy by making Japanese goods cheaper abroad.
Africa in particular boasts certain comparative advantage for exporting primary products, but cannot compete against the distortions created by the Common Agriculture Policy (which still eats up more than 40% of the E.U.'s budget [PDF]) and U.S. subsides against crops such as cotton.
That sounds for some here like Germany, in a time of great economic difficulty, is trying to re-orient the common currency's rules to best suit its own economy: Reinforcing the euro zone's debt and deficit provisions in line with its own anti-inflationary (or deflationist) instincts, and in the process securing an arrangement that guarantees competitive advantages for its exports.
A cheaper currency means India is "getting an advantage for our export sector".
This preserved a competitive advantage for Chinese exports and helped China gain or retain millions of jobs in export-related industries that might otherwise have remained in industrialized countries or moved to other developing countries.
The new seats at the table, by contrast, are held mostly by nations like China, India and Brazil that manage their currencies to create a competitive advantage for their exports.
Such businesses — notably in the energy and telecommunications industries — have been wary of letting foreign rivals into the country and remain defenders of keeping China's currency weak, so as to preserve a competitive advantage for their exports.
Many disgruntled workers accuse America's trade partners, particularly in Asia, of manipulating their currencies to gain unfair advantage for their exports and of dumping their goods on American markets below cost.
By controlling the yuan's value rather than allowing it to adjust to supply and demand, China is trying to maintain a price advantage for its exports of manufactured goods, with the effect of depressing prices around Asia and the world, some American and Japanese economists have said.
Technological innovation in postharvest handling systems holds the key to gaining and retaining future competitive advantage for horticultural export-orientated businesses through adding value, enhancing market access or reducing losses.
Washington let Japan manipulate its currency for export advantage for 40 years, so why expect change now?
