Markets Wired

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen today released the following statement at the conclusion of the G7 Summit:

“I commend President Biden and our G7 counterparts for the significant progress made this week at the G7 Summit, including on areas that have been at the top of the Treasury Department’s agenda. This progress was enabled by the President’s strong leadership and his focus since Day One on rebuilding our alliances and working together with our partners to advance our shared interests. 

Since the start of Russia’s brutal and unjust war on Ukraine, Treasury has been committed to using all the tools at our disposal to provide Ukraine economic support and constrain Russia’s aggression. I am particularly heartened that G7 Leaders have agreed to move forward the proposal to provide a decisive amount of financing for Ukraine that would be repaid by the windfall earnings on immobilized Russian sovereign assets. This is a crucial step forward to get Ukraine urgently needed financial resources before it is too late and to send a powerful signal to Putin that time is not on Russia’s side.

I also commend G7 Leaders for calling out Russia’s use of third country financial institutions to support its military-industrial base and obtain instruments of war that continue to harm Ukraine.  Russia has re-oriented its economy and marshalled all parts of its government toward supporting its reprehensible war effort.  I firmly believe our measures need to keep pace with that shift. That is why we have strengthened and expanded our ability to target foreign financial institutions or anyone else supporting Russia’s war machine around the world. G7 Leaders called upon the People’s Republic of China and other countries to cease support Russia’s military industrial base. Treasury will continue to take action along with our partners against third-country actors and entities that provide support for Russia and will also work with our partners to continue strengthening our efforts to counter sanctions evasion.

The G7 Summit also affirmed that the concerns that I have repeatedly voiced, including directly with my Chinese counterparts, on China’s overcapacity, are widely shared across the G7. The United States seeks a healthy economic relationship with China, but this requires competing on a level playing field. China’s non-market policies and practices are currently leading to overcapacity in manufacturing including in key industries like solar, electric vehicles, and lithium-ion batteries. This poses a threat to American firms and workers and to firms and workers are around the world. I will continue to raise these concerns in conversations with my Chinese counterparts and am glad the G7 is presenting a united front.

I am also very pleased that G7 leaders affirmed our joint commitment, as outlined by the Nairobi-Washington Vision, to build a stronger and more resilient global economy by addressing mounting debt burdens and acute financing needs of developing countries that are making ambitious investments toward sustainable development.”

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