The US is considering a range of tools to push China into allowing its currency to appreciate faster, Tim Geithner, Treasury secretary, told Congress on Thursday.

In text prepared for delivery to committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives, Mr Geithner repeated his view that the renminbi is rising too slowly and argue that a combination of direct and multilateral measures could be used to encourage the Chinese authorities to allow a swifter rise.

“We are examining the important question of what mix of tools, those available to the United States and multilateral approaches, might help encourage the Chinese authorities to move more quickly,” his statement said. Since China unpegged the renminbi from the dollar on June 19, a move Mr Geithner said was an important step, Beijing has continued to intervene in the foreign exchange markets to prevent anything more than minimal appreciation against the dollar.