WASHINGTON (AP) – Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told world financial leaders that the U.S. economy is stronger because the Biden administration has rejected isolationism, two weeks before the U.S. election, compared to former President Donald Trump’s Barely criticizing the policy.
Yellen opened the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank on Tuesday by highlighting economic growth since the United States was hit by the coronavirus pandemic. He did not mention Trump by name, but in a preliminary draft of his remarks, he said the Biden administration had ended an era of international isolationism that “made America and the world worse.”
“We went from millions of people out of work to a historic labor market recovery,” Yellen said. He said the U.S. economy has grown “almost twice as fast this year and last as most other developed countries, even though inflation has fallen faster.”
The IMF released its international outlook for the world economy on Tuesday morning, raising its economic outlook for the United States this year while lowering growth expectations for Europe and China.
The IMF expects the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, to grow 2.8% this year, down slightly from the 2.9% in 2023 but better than the 2.6% in 2024 it predicted in July. U.S. growth has been driven by strong consumer spending driven by healthy inflation-adjusted wage growth.
The meeting will be the last major international financial meeting to be held under the Biden administration, and comes as economic issues remain top of mind for American voters. Republicans blame the Biden-Harris administration for the drop in inflation after hitting a 40-year high. Trump campaign press secretary Caroline Levitt said in a statement that the Biden-Harris administration has “created an inflation crisis, record gas prices, and soaring mortgage rates and interest rates, resulting in a decline in consumer and small business confidence.” “This is the lowest in decades,” he said.
An October poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that voters’ opinions about whether they prefer Republican nominee Trump or Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris to handle important economic issues are: They are still widely divided.
Who wins the US election will have a huge impact on global finance and the global economy.
Trump and Harris have said little about the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s plans. However, the two countries have different views on trade, tariffs and other economic issues. President Trump is skeptical of the world’s financial institutions and has promised to impose heavy tariffs if elected. Although Harris supports some tariffs, she is likely to continue the Biden administration’s approach of prioritizing international cooperation over threats.
story continues
Yellen, like other federal officials, is prohibited from partisan politics under the Hatch Act and chose her words carefully in her speech. But she praised Biden and Harris’ efforts in areas such as climate, health care and infrastructure spending.
She alluded to President Trump’s international leadership, saying, “From day one, we have rejected the isolationism that degrades America and the world, and we have supported global economies that support economies around the world and provide tremendous benefits to the American people and the American economy.” We pursued economic leadership.”
As president, Mr. Trump, who has embraced isolationism and criticized multilateral institutions, has imposed 60% tariffs on all Chinese goods and “universal tariffs” of 10% or 20% on everything else imported into the United States. He promised to impose “targeted” tariffs and argued that the cost would be high. Taxes on imported goods are absorbed by the foreign countries that produce those products.
Mainstream economists argue that this would tax American consumers, make the economy less efficient, and cause U.S. inflation to skyrocket.
The Biden-Harris administration has not eliminated the tariffs on China imposed during the Trump administration, and in May imposed large tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminum, and medical equipment.
