Janet Yellen says Trump administration's China policies left US more vulnerable
Yellen said former President Donald Trump's policies toward China left America «more vulnerable and more isolated» in the global economy, a rare jab by her at the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Yellen, at a US-China Business Council event Thursday night, said the Trump administration «failed to make investments at home in critical areas like infrastructure and advanced technology, while also neglecting relationships with our partners and allies that had been forged and strengthened over decades.»
Her comments come as the US rebuilds its relationship with the Asian superpower, including a November meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco. The two nations agreed to curb the production of illicit fentanyl, a deadly component of drugs sold in the United States, and agreed to resume military-to-military communications.
«Proceeding purposefully and carefully to responsibly manage our economic relationship» is the Biden administration approach on China, she said.
Yellen, who rarely comments on the previous administration's approach on trade, said Trump-era policies on China «left America more vulnerable and more isolated in a competitive global economy that demands that nations take exactly the opposite approach.»
«It damaged our global standing and meant significant missed economic opportunities for American firms and workers,» she says.
In her speech, Yellen highlighted the Biden administration's strategy of strengthening relationships with like-minded nations through «friend shoring» with nations like South Korea, Vietnam, Japan, India and Indonesia. And establishing economic
