WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Europe must find a way to give its bailout fund the firepower it needs to become a firewall that will block its financial crisis from spreading, a senior U.S. Treasury Department official said on Thursday.

Testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, Under Secretary for International Affairs Lael Brainard said the 440-billion-euro ($600 billion) European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) provides “quite substantial resources” that could be given more strength by leveraging it to make it more forceful.

Europe should leverage the EFSF “to be credible in the market, and it needs to give them that overwhelming force where it takes the threat of defaults and bank runs off the table,” she said.

She added that there were a number of ways of doing so but did not specify a preferred method.

France has argued the most effective way of leveraging the fund is to turn it into a bank that could use funding from the European Central Bank to guarantee some of the debts of struggling euro zone countries. But the ECB and Berlin oppose this and the proposal appears to be dead.

An alternative would use the EFSF to guarantee a portion of potential losses on new euro zone debt and so aim to restore market confidence and convince investors that the debt of Italy and Spain remains safe to buy.

European leaders will use a summit on Sunday to try to work out their differences.

WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) – American solar panel makers asked the U.S. government on Wednesday to impose stiff duties on Chinese-made solar energy products that they said unfairly undercut prices and destroy thousands of American jobs.

The spat over solar panels, which comes even as the Obama administration faces criticism over its financial backing for bankrupt U.S. solar panel maker Solyndra, marks the latest irritant in relations between the world’s two top economies.

“Let us be clear. China has a plan for our market — to gut it and own it,” Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld Industries Americas Inc, told a news conference, as the U.S. solar panel makers asked the U.S. government to slap duties of more than 100 percent on more than $1.6 billion of Chinese-made solar cells and modules.

Flanked by Oregon’s two Democratic senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, Brinser said Chinese solar energy product makers had received a long list of illegal government subsidies in China and sold at steep discounts to grab U.S. market share.

“American solar manufacturers can compete with any Chinese manufacturer, but not with the entire government of China,” Brinser said.

SolarWorld is the U.S. arm of SolarWorld AG, one of Germany’s largest solar product manufacturers which has sought to expand into the growing U.S. market. Last month, SolarWorld shut its Camarillo, California, production plant due to the steep drop in solar panel prices.

SolarWorld and six other U.S. solar energy product companies joined in a coalition to ask the U.S. government to take action.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. solar manufacturers plan to ask the Obama administration on Wednesday to slap duties on lower-priced imports in a case likely to increase trade frictions with China.

A spokeswoman for the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing said the group had set a news conference for Wednesday afternoon to announce a new trade case aimed at unfairly priced and subsidized imports.

She declined to identify the country targeted in the complaint but it is widely expected to be China, which has shown itself to be a fierce competitor in the worldwide battle for solar panel market share.

Trade relations with China have become a hot issue ahead of the 2012 U.S. presidential and congressional elections. The Senate last week passed a bill aimed at Beijing’s currency practices although the bill faces an uphill battle in the House of Representatives to become law.

Next week, the House Ways and Means Committee plans a hearing to dive into a broad array of Chinese trade actions that are causing concern in the United States.

The U.S. solar industry has been hit hard by competition from China and other countries. U.S. companies accuse them of providing cheap financing and subsidies to support their sectors.

At the same time, some trade experts have warned that the Obama administration needs to tread carefully since the United States also has programs to support the sector.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Treasury Department said on Friday it would delay until later this year a ruling on whether China is manipulating its currency as Democratic Party lawmakers tried to overcome Republican opposition to a bill that would punish Beijing for its currency policies.

The decision to delay the sixth semiannual report to Congress under the Obama administration, which was due on Saturday, came days after the Senate approved legislation that aims to pressure Beijing to let its yuan rise in value faster.

The delay “will give us a chance to assess progress following several international meetings,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.

Ministers and leaders of the Group of Twenty major global economies and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, bodies in which the United States and China are key players, are scheduled to meet this month and in November.

President Barack Obama and key figures in his cabinet, while stopping short of endorsing the currency bill, have voiced clear sympathy with lawmakers’ contention that China undervalues the yuan to give its companies a price advantage in global markets.

“China has been gaming the trading system to hold down the value of its currency to give its companies a leg up. Its currency has appreciated, but not enough,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a speech in New York on Friday.

Clinton, whose currency remarks echoed those of Obama this week, also raised concern that some provisions could violate World Trade Organization rules.

WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) – U.S. Democratic lawmakers vowed on Friday to keep pressing for a vote on China currency legislation, now blocked by Republican leaders, which they said is vital for U.S. competitiveness in global markets.

“It is estimated that currency manipulation costs our economy over a million jobs,” said Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 in the House of Representatives Democratic leadership. “I urge the Republican leadership to put the currency bill on the floor.”

Earlier this week, the Senate voted 63-35 to pass a bill aimed at China by allowing companies to seek U.S. government “countervailing duties” against goods from countries with undervalued currencies.

The House is controlled by Republicans and the Senate by Democrats.

Many U.S. lawmakers contend that China undervalues its currency by as much as 15 to 40 percent to give its companies an unfair price advantage in international trade.

House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, says he fears the bill could start a trade war and has refused to bring it to the floor for a vote, even though a similar measure passed the House last year 348-79.

“They don’t want this bill on the floor for one reason: it would pass,” said Representative Sander Levin, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee. “The speaker should let the House work its will.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration, under fire for not taking a harder line on China over its currency, appears set to move against the Asia export powerhouse on other fronts as next year’s U.S. elections approach.

The United States is likely to launch fresh challenges against China at the World Trade Organization, probably stoking tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.

“I expect the United States will be bringing more cases against China in the coming year,” said James Bacchus, who as a former WTO appellate judge used to sit in judgment of international trade disputes.

Already firmly in campaign mode, President Barack Obama recently boasted of taking a tougher line on trade than his predecessors. China, its currency and other trade issues have already become a big issue in the election campaigning.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has ratcheted up his criticism of China, despite his party’s traditionally pro-free trade stance.

“If you are not willing to stand up to China, you will get run over by China, and that’s what’s happened for 20 years,” the former Massachusetts governor said on Tuesday.

He was speaking shortly after the U.S. Senate passed legislation to crack down on Chinese currency practices that U.S. lawmakers blame for millions of lost jobs.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Congress on Wednesday approved long-delayed trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama that are expected to lift exports by about $13 billion a year and give U.S. employment a boost.

Republicans and Democrats joined together in the House of Representatives and the Senate to pass the pacts, which now go to President Barack Obama to sign into law.

Obama — who sent the three agreements to Capitol Hill nine days ago, four to five years after they were negotiated — welcomed the congressional passage of the deals.

“These free trade agreements will give our economy a much-needed shot in the arm and create tens of thousands of American jobs,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the bipartisan votes showed there were some areas where his party and Obama could find common ground despite a current battle over jobs legislation and other clashes in the past.

“For our part, Senate Republicans are ready to work with him on an even more robust trade agenda,” McConnell said.

U.S. farm and manufactured goods exports are expected to rise under the three agreements as tariffs are phased out. The pacts also open new markets for U.S. companies in service sectors such as banking, insurance and express delivery.

WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved long-delayed trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama that are expected to lift exports by about $13 billion a year, clearing the way for the Senate to give a final stamp of approval.

Republicans and Democrats joined together to pass the pacts, with the Colombia deal receiving the least support. The Senate is expected to pass the deals later on Wednesday.

Supporters hope the action marks an end to a long U.S. drought on deals to open trade. Each pact had been stuck at the White House for at least four years.

“We will send a strong signal to the world that America is back on the trade field,” said Representative Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican, at a rally with business groups.

U.S. farm and manufactured goods exports are expected to rise under the agreements as tariffs are phased out. The pacts also open new markets for U.S. companies in service sectors such as banking, insurance and express delivery.

Critics such as Senator Sherrod Brown said the deals will harm U.S. employment, but the Obama administration and other proponents think they will support tens of thousands jobs.

Brown, an Ohio Democrat, urged Obama to turn away from “NAFTA-style” agreements like the three deals and change trade policy to “put American manufacturers and workers first.”

WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress was poised on Wednesday to approve long-delayed trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama that are expected to create U.S. jobs by boosting exports by about $13 billion a year.

The House of Representatives and Senate are expected to back the deals in a series of votes later on Wednesday.

Supporters hope the action marks an end to a long U.S. drought on deals to open trade. Each pact had been stuck at the White House for at least four years.

“We will send a strong signal to the world that America is back on the trade field,” said Representative Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican, at a rally with business groups.

U.S. farm and manufactured goods exports are expected to rise under all three agreements as tariffs are phased out. The agreements also open new markets for U.S. companies in service sectors such as banking, insurance and express delivery.

Critics say the pacts will harm U.S. employment, but the Obama administration and other proponents think the pacts will support tens of thousands jobs.

The biggest gains are expected from the pact with South Korea, a longtime ally and a $1 trillion economy in a region increasingly dominated by China. The agreement will help anchor the United States in the fast-growing Asia Pacific region so it can share in its growth, analysts say.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Senate panel on Tuesday backed long-delayed trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama that are expected to boost U.S. exports by about $13 billion a year, paving the way for final approval.

The full Senate and House of Representatives are poised to approve the agreements on Wednesday, just nine days after President Barack Obama sent them to Congress. Obama has said they would help support tens of thousands American jobs.

The panel approved the South Korea and Panama agreements on voice votes and the Colombia pact by a 18-6 vote.

U.S. farm and manufactured goods exports are expected to rise under all three agreements as tariffs are phased out, with the biggest gains coming from the South Korea agreement. The deals also open new markets for U.S. companies in service sectors such as banking, insurance and express delivery.

The deals “will give our ranchers, farmers, workers and businesses a competitive edge in three lucrative fast-growing markets,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said.

The speed at which the deals have moved through Congress contrasts with the four to five years they were stuck at the White House because of mostly Democratic Party concerns.

Senator Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the panel, said the long period of inaction had “weakened” U.S. leadership in global trade and “led many to doubt whether the United States remains serious about addressing the world’s and its own economic challenges.”