Yuan-to-Dollar Rate Breaks Key Benchmark, Escalating Trade War

A Chinese bank worker checks a U.S. 100 dollar bill together with stacks of 100 yuan notes at a bank counter in Hefei City, Anhui Province, China, on Sept. 30, 2010. STR/AFP/Getty Images

The Chinese yuan has breached a key seven-per-U.S. dollar exchange rate on Aug. 5, for the first time in 11 years.

The seven-per-dollar benchmark is significant because the Chinese regime has said that rate would be the bottom threshold that ensures that foreign investors wouldn’t move out of China. A higher exchange rate would allow Beijing to offset the effects of U.S. tariffs.