The U.S. Congress has vowed to pass a bill pressing China to allow its currency to appreciate.

In a Bloomberg TV interview, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stressed the need to pass the bill. She noted that the U.S. has posted a trade deficit with China for 17 years, saying that manufacturers were particularly hard hit by the recent weakness of the yuan versus the dollar.

The bill was submitted by four senators including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus. If passed, it will enable Washington to exert pressure on Beijing to revaluate its currency through retaliatory actions such as imposing tariffs and submitting a complaint to the World Trade Organization.