Extract from a research brief by by C. Fred Bergsten and Joseph E. Gagnon, at Peterson Institute for International Economics, published December 2012:
More than 20 countries have increased their aggregate foreign exchange reserves and other official foreign assets by an annual average of nearly $1 trillion in recent years. This buildup — mainly through intervention in the foreign exchange markets — keeps the currencies of the interveners substantially undervalued, thus boosting their international competitiveness and trade surpluses. The corresponding trade deficits are spread around the world, but the largest share of the loss centers on the United States, whose trade deficit has increased by $200 billion to $500 billion per year. The United States has lost 1 million to 5 million jobs as a result of this foreign currency manipulation.
Read more at POLICY BRIEF 12-25: Currency Manipulation, the US Economy, and the Global Economic Order.
Hat tip to Simon Kennedy at Bloomberg.