The incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden will use all available tools to address "China's abusive unfair and illegal practices" that undermine the US economy, Treasury secretary nominee Janet Yellen said Tuesday.

Responding to questions from the Senate Finance Committee at her confirmation hearing, Yellen said China has been "undercutting American companies" with a series of policies, including illegal subsidies, dumping of products, theft of intellectual property and barriers to US goods.

"We need to take on China's abusive unfair and illegal practices," she said, adding "we're prepared to use the full array of tools" to address those issues.

The litany of complaints echoes the central focus of outgoing President Donald Trump's all-out offensive against China, including a costly trade war that imposed billions in punitive tariffs.

However, while Yellen agreed that "China is clearly, our most important strategic competitor," unlike Trump, she stressed that it will be important "to work with our allies" to combat the challenge.

Trump, like other administrations before him, also accused Beijing of keeping its currency artificially low as a way to make its products cheaper and gain a trade advantage, and Yellen repeated the opposition to that practice.

She pledged that the value of the US dollar "should be determined by markets" and "if confirmed, I will work to implement the President-elect's promise to oppose any and all attempts by foreign countries to artificially manipulate currency values to gain an unfair advantage in trade."

She also told senators that global digital tax negotiations under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are important for the United States to collect taxes from corporations that have moved their headquarters overseas.

"It would enable us to collect a fair share from corporations, while maintaining the competitiveness of our businesses and diminish the incentives that American companies now have to offshore activities," Yellen said.

Related Links
Global Trade News

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Samsung chief jailed for 2.5 years over corruption scandal
Seoul (AFP) Jan 18, 2021
The de facto chief of South Korea's Samsung business empire was convicted Monday over a huge corruption scandal and jailed for two and a half years, in a ruling that deprives the tech giant of its top decision-maker. Lee Jae-yong, vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest smartphone and memory chip maker, was found guilty of bribery and embezzlement in connection with the scandal that brought down president Park Geun-hye. Lee "actively provided bribes and implicitly asked the pre ... read more