I would like to point out that the origin of the phrase ‘currency manipulation’ itself is of recent vintage, dating to 2015, when the US Treasury started publishing a semi-annual report on the subject. In this backdrop, it has acquired a predominantly bilateral connotation.
Currently, the semi-annual Report judges countries as currency manipulators on the basis of three criteria: (i) a bilateral trade surplus with the US of at least US $ 20 billion; (ii) a material current account surplus of at least 2 per cent of GDP; and (iii) persistent one-sided net purchases in 6 out of 12 months adding to at least 2 per cent of an economy’s GDP over a 12-month period.