Westpac analysts note the yuan had followed a clear appreciation trend from August 2017 until mid-June 2018, then reversed. Since June 12, nearly all G10 currencies fell against the dollar, and the yuan was among the weakest in Asia at about -3.2%.
The analysts doubt China views a weaker yuan as a deliberate policy tool in the trade fight.
The broad dollar strength and yuan weakness pressure commodity-linked currencies and raise the dollar cost of Chinese imports, a modest headwind for US feed exports. The analysts' view that the yuan slide is not a deliberate policy tool limits the expected scale of the price effect.
After 398 past bullish macro events, Chinese Yuan (CNY per USD) moved a median +0.0% over 5 sessions (56% higher; middle half -0.3% to +0.5%), and +0.0% over 20.
Not enough comparable past events yet for a historical read.
Moves of each commodity's benchmark from the last close before the event. Historical reads pool past events of the same kind; they describe what happened, not what will. Not investment advice.
Westpac analysis documents the reversal of the yuan's appreciation trend and its roughly 3% drop since mid-June, confirming the move within the window, though it gives limited causal detail.