Obama Focuses at UN on Mideast, Currency Friction With China

President Barack Obama used the backdrop of the United Nations General Assembly meeting to tackle tensions with China and to urge world leaders to support the Middle East peace process, two issues that are testing his economic and foreign policy plans.

The U.S. president pressed China’s Premier Wen Jiabao over currency valuation during a two-hour meeting yesterday, an adviser said, as momentum is building in Congress for trade sanctions if the yuan remains what the U.S. views as undervalued.