FRANKFURT, Germany — The U.S. sought to build support for squeezing more money for Ukraine out of frozen Russian assets and for uniting against China’s aggressive 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.
European officials have balked at outright confiscating the funds and handing them to Ukraine as compensation for the destruction caused by Russia. Instead they plan use the interest accumulating on the assets, but that’s only around $3 billion a year — about one month’s financing needs for the Ukrainian government.
Yellen has also called for a clear united front against China’s state subsidies for manufacturing of solar panels, semiconductors and electric cars, saying that China’s production capacity exceeds the needs not only of China but of the global economy as a whole and threatens the existence of competing companies in both Group of Seven and developing countries.