WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told world finance leaders on Tuesday that the U.S. economy has become stronger because the Biden administration has rejected isolationism, offering thinly veiled criticism two weeks before the U.S. election the policies of former President Donald Trump.
Yellen opened the IMF and World Bank annual meetings by highlighting U.S. economic growth since the country was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Without mentioning Trump by name, she said in a speech that the Biden administration had ended a period of international isolationism that had left “America and the world worse off.”
“We have gone from millions losing their jobs to a historic labor market recovery,” Yellen said. She said U.S. economic growth “has been nearly twice as fast as most other advanced economies this year and last, even as inflation declined earlier.”
The IMF released its international outlook for the global economy on Tuesday morning, improving its economic outlook for the United States this year while lowering its expectations for growth in Europe and China.
The IMF expects the U.S. economy – the world’s largest – to grow 2.8% this year, down slightly from 2.9% in 2023 but an improvement from the 2.6% which he had already forecast for 2024 in July. Growth in the United States was driven by robust consumer spending, boosted by robust gains in inflation-adjusted wages.
The meetings represent the last major international financial meeting held during the Biden administration and come as economic issues are a top concern for American voters. Republicans blame the Biden-Harris administration for inflation, which hit a 40-year high before falling. Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the Biden-Harris administration “has created an inflation crisis, record high gasoline prices, skyrocketing mortgage and interest rates, resulting in the lowest consumer and compact business confidence in decades. “
Voters remain largely divided over whether they would prefer Republican nominee Trump or Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris to address key economic issues, according to an October poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Whoever wins the US election will also have a huge impact on global finance and the world economy.
Trump and Harris have said little about their plans for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. However, they have different views on trade, tariffs and other economic issues. Trump is skeptical of the world’s financial bodies and promises high tariffs if elected. Harris is more likely to continue the Biden administration’s approach of favoring international cooperation over threats, although she has supported some tariffs.
Yellen, like other federal officials, is barred from partisan political activity by the Hatch Act and chose her words carefully in her speech. However, she praised Biden and Harris’ initiatives on climate, health care, infrastructure spending and other areas.
Alluding to Trump’s international leadership, she said: “From day one, we rejected the isolationism that made America and the world worse off and pursued global economic leadership that supports economies around the world and the American people and the US.” -Economy brings significant benefits.”
Trump, who has embraced isolationism and criticized multilateral institutions, is promising as president to impose a 60% tariff on all Chinese goods and a “universal” tariff of 10% or 20% on everything else imported into the United States and insists that the costs are high. Part of the taxation of imported goods is borne by the foreign countries that produce these goods.
Mainstream economists say this would amount to a tax on American consumers that would make the economy less competent and drive up inflation in the United States.
The Biden-Harris administration has not eliminated tariffs imposed on China during the Trump administration and in May also imposed steep tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, advanced batteries, solar panels, steel, aluminum and medical devices.
