The Biden administration will push China to change an industrial policy that poses a threat to U.S. jobs, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday after wrapping up four days of talks with Chinese officials.
“China is now simply too large for the rest of the world to absorb this enormous capacity. Actions taken by the PRC today can shift world prices,” she said, using the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China. “And when the global market is flooded by artificially cheap Chinese products, the viability of American and other foreign firms is put into question.”
It’s unclear how China will respond to such calls. European officials have repeatedly raised the issue on visits to China with no sign of any change on the Chinese side. Moreover, one of leader Xi Jinping’s major goals is to build the nation into a major power so it doesn’t feel compelled to bend to outside pressure.
Advocating for higher consumer spending in China in response to its large government subsidies to solar, EV and lithium-ion battery industries, Yellen said: “If consumer spending were higher as a share of GDP, there would be less need to have such large investment going into building supply” of green energy products.
“I stressed that companies, including those in the PRC, must not provide material support for Russia’s war and that they will face significant consequences if they do,” she said.