The U.S. sought to build support for squeezing more money for Ukraine out of frozen Russian assets and for uniting against China’s trade practices as finance ministers from the Group of Seven rich democracies opened a two-day meeting on Friday on the shores of northern Italy’s scenic Lago Maggiore.
The U.S. Congress has passed legislation allowing the Biden administration to seize the roughly $5-billion in Russian assets located in the US, but most of the funds are in Europe. Citing legal concerns, European officials have balked at outright confiscating the money and handing it to Ukraine as compensation for the destruction caused by Russia.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire praised Yellen for setting aside a proposal that he said would have undermined international rule of law, and added that “the U.S. proposal is now consistent with international law.”