FACTBOX-U.S. Treasury tags Switzerland and Vietnam currency manipulators
(Adds details from U.S. Treasury announcement, Swiss reaction)
Dec 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury labeled Switzerland and Vietnam as currency manipulators on Wednesday and added three new names to a watch list of countries it says it suspects of taking measures to devalue their currencies against the dollar.
The designation, which can lead to sanctions, is based on three criteria: A $20 billion-plus trade surplus with the United States, currency intervention exceeding 2% of gross domestic product and a current account surplus exceeding 2% of GDP.
The Treasury also said its "monitoring list" of countries that meet some of the criteria for being labeled as currency manipulators has hit 10, with the additions of Taiwan, Thailand and India. Others on the list include China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Italy, Singapore and Malaysia.