Once in office, he will find himself at the centre of one of the most contentious issues dividing China and America: the value of China's currency, and the question of whether China is contriving to keep it artificially low in order to boost export volumes.Mr Lew has attracted less attention than Mr Obama's other new cabinet nominees, and is not well known to Chinese analysts.
Mr Obama could address that weakness by naming a deputy with that background, such as David Lipton, currently the number two at the International Monetary Fund; Michael Froman, a White House adviser; or Lael Brainard, currently the undersecretary for international affairs.Mr Lew has one big advantage Mr Geithner lacked four years ago: a growing economy.
But the UN warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan's South Kordofan and Blue Nile provinces, where rebels are fighting government forces.Lew suggestionJack Lew was expected to be nominated by Barack Obama as his new treasury secretary, replacing Timothy Geithner, who is stepping down after four gruelling years in the job.
Whether Mr Lew can fulfill that trust will determine the fate of the economy this year, and with it his own reputation.
See articleJacob Lew, America's Treasury secretary, pushed Congress to enact a bill that would tighten the rules on "inversion" takeovers, where an American company buys a foreign firm partly in order to move its tax domicile to a country with lower corporate rates.
But we shouldn't cower in the wake of that, or we shouldn't be concerned that they're going to take our place in the world," he said.Jack Lew has been nominated by Mr Obama to replace the outgoing treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, and he too awaits confirmation by the senate.
Mr Lew, in a leaked letter, described inversion deals as an "abuse of our tax system .Another effort at striking an inversion deal inched forward when Shire, a British drugs company domiciled in Dublin, said it was now willing to recommend a revised $54 billion offer from America's AbbVie to shareholders provided other terms of the bid can be resolved.
German exporters are also benefiting from a weaker euro.A rival to the IMFJack Lew warned that America's "international credibility and influence are being threatened" by Congress's reluctance to approve reforms to the IMF that would give China a greater role.
Mr Lew wants a broad reform of business taxes, which he acknowledges are "distorted".Amid the usual hoopla Apple launched the iPhone 6 and its first smartwatch, simply called the Apple Watch.
The law gives same-sex couples full inheritance and adoption rights.Jacob's ladder to climbBarack Obama picked Jacob Lew as his new budget director.It is the second time that Mr Lew has been put in charge of the federal purse-strings; he was budget director between 1998 and 2001, leaving behind a $236 billion surplus.
