Yellen: ‘We Have Deepened Our Ties with China’

During an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that the relationship between the U.S. and China has “gotten closer. I think we have deepened our ties with China.”

CNBC Senior Economics Reporter Steve Liesman asked, “You mentioned in your speech the risk of China and the importance of having a positive relationship with China or at least building on that relationship. Yet, over the course of this administration, you have kept the tariffs put in place by former President Trump and you’ve actually added to them. Do you believe that that relationship has gotten closer?”

Yellen answered, “I do believe it’s gotten closer. I think we have deepened our ties with China. We have found ways to constructively discuss and address our differences. I don’t want to say that there will be some miracle in which we see China address all of our concerns quickly, but we have had productive discussions of our differences so that we better understand one another and we’re cooperating in areas that the world needs us to work together. Financial stability is one of these areas, and, for example, if we were to, God forbid, see a globally systemically important bank…fail, that has operations in China and the U.S. and Europe, we would need to be able to cooperate and we are working closely with financial authorities in China, doing tabletop exercises and deepening our ties so that we would be able to work constructively and quickly to manage a financial crisis that involved the banks and the financial system in our countries.”

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