Yellen warns China against exports, support for Russia

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen confronted her Chinese counterpart over rising Chinese exports of cheap electric vehicles and other green energy products, saying they posed a threat to American jobs and urging Beijing to cut its industrial strategy, the US government said.

Ms. Yellen also warned her counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng, that Chinese companies could face significant consequences if they provided material support for Russia's war against Ukraine, according to a Treasury Department summary released Saturday over two days of talks in the southern Ukrainian city. Canton.

The meetings on Friday and Saturday are an effort by the world's two largest economies to resolve their trade and geopolitical disputes as the countries try to stabilize relations that hit an all-time low last year.

The United States and China agreed to hold additional discussions in the future on combating international money laundering and promoting balanced growth. The latter aims in part to address concerns that China's focus on industrial production to prop up its flagging economy has led to an export glut that distorts global markets.

The rise of China's heavily subsidized green technology exports was the focus of Ms. Yellens' second trip as Treasury secretary to the country. Cheap Chinese electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels are of particular concern to the Biden administration, which is investing in these sectors at home.

“I think the Chinese realize how concerned we are about the implications of their industrial strategy for the United States, about the potential to flood our markets with exports that would make it difficult for American companies to compete,” Ms. Yellen to reporters after meetings.

Ahead of her talks with Chinese officials, Ms. Yellen met with U.S. and European executives whose companies operate in China. She listened to their concerns about China's treatment of foreign companies and discussed how China's export surge was impacting the global economy.

Ms. Yellen received a warm welcome in Guangzhou, but China resists the suggestion that her economic strategy poses a threat.

In a social media post on Saturday, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said Chinese exports constitute a public good.

Globally, high-quality industrial capacities and new-quality productive forces are not excessive, but face a serious shortage. Mr. Liu wrote. How to ensure that the world, especially developing countries, benefits from such capacity is a constant test of human consciousness and ingenuity.

After the negotiations concluded on Saturday, China's official Xinhua news agency reported that Chinese officials expressed their own frustrations to Ms. Yellen over U.S. economic strategy.

China has expressed serious concerns over US restrictive economic and trade measures against China, and responded fully on the issue of production capacity, Xinhua said.

Ms. Yellen acknowledged that the issue was complicated for China. This won't be solved in an afternoon or a month, she said.

Beyond economic issues, Ms. Yellen and Mr. He discussed Russia's war in Ukraine and growing concern in the United States that Chinese companies are helping to prop up Moscow's military. The Biden administration has already imposed trade restrictions on Chinese companies it accuses of violating U.S. sanctions.

We have made it clear to China that we consider Russia to benefit from the support of the goods that Chinese companies supply to it, Ms. Yellen said.

She said Mr. He told her that China had a policy of not providing military support to Russia. She expressed optimism that the two sides would be able to cooperate on this issue.

Ms. Yellen was traveling from Guangzhou to Beijing on Saturday afternoon, where she was scheduled to meet with Premier Li Qiang and Yin Yong, the mayor of Beijing, on Sunday.

Siyi Zhao contributed reporting from Seoul.