Yellen admonishes Russia, China ‘Geopolitical Duress’
The global economy is experiencing “major headwinds,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday, and the country is taking steps to strengthen its supply chains and protect itself from “geopolitical pressure” by Russia, China, and others.
Yellen spoke at a conference hosted by the pro-globalization Bretton Woods Committee and said that the United States is working to increase supply chain redundancy and deepen its integration with the European Union and Indo-Pacific countries, which includes many emerging markets and developing countries.
“We know the cost of Russia’s weaponization of trade as a tool of geopolitical coercion, and we must mitigate similar vulnerabilities to countries like China,” Yellen said, emphasizing Washington’s resolve to hold Russia accountable for its invasion of Ukraine and its initial blockade of food and energy shipments from the country.
Together with other members of the Biden administration, Yellen has been vocal about the need to lessen reliance on Chinese supply chains in order to counter what they regard as Beijing’s negative behavior in the global economy.
She stated that the federal government was making efforts to lessen the “extreme dependency” of American businesses on Taiwanese semiconductors and other technology such as Chinese solar panels and components for electric car batteries.
“The concept of “friend-shoring” isn’t limited to a select few nations. This isn’t an attempt at isolationism. Intended to (increase) diversity while reaping trade’s benefits,” reported Yellen.
In a meeting with Britain’s new Secretary of State for International Trade Kemi Badenoch last month, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai also voiced worries about China’s “non-market economic policies and practices and economic coercion.”
In the U.S., building resilience to shocks is key to President Biden’s economic plan — from strengthening long-term energy security through the clean energy transition, to modernizing our trade relationships and supply chains.
And we urge other countries to partner with us.
— Secretary Janet Yellen (@SecYellen) October 12, 2022
