The prospect that China would use currency devaluation to retaliate against any escalations of U.S. tariffs loomed in the aftermath of a sharp drop in the country’s stock markets.

But one gauge of the Chinese currency’s strength indicates no efforts to devalue this year.

On Wednesday, the central bank set its reference rate for the yuan at 6.4586 to the dollar, 0.5% weaker than Tuesday’s rate and the lowest since January.

“One would imagine that China will be thinking about currency devaluation again,” said Rabobank senior Asia-Pacific strategist Michael Every in a research note. The yuan doesn’t trade freely, and analysts are often left wondering what the People’s Bank of China has in mind for the currency. Devaluation is one of Beijing’s most powerful economic tools.

China imports far less from the U.S. than it exports to it and could use depreciation as an alternative way to retaliate against tariff increases.

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