Treasury to Use 'Full Array of Tools' to Counter China, Says Nominee Yellen

The U.S. should boost efforts to counter China’s unfair trading practices and work closer with allies on trade restrictions, said Janet Yellen, President Joe Biden’s nominee for treasury secretary. The new administration will increase pressure and work multilaterally against China’s unfair subsidies, illegal technology transfers and other trade issues, Yellen told the Senate Finance Committee virtually in her confirmation hearing Tuesday. “China is clearly our most important strategic competitor,” she said, and the U.S. needs to “take on" China's "abusive, unfair and illegal practices,” including illegal dumping, trade barriers, lopsided subsidies and forced technology transfers, which are giving it an “unfair technological advantage.” If confirmed, Yellen said, Treasury will cooperate more with allies but will impose unilateral restrictions if they are warranted. “These practices, including China's global labor and environmental standards, are practices that we’re prepared to use the full array of tools to address,” she said.