Sec. Yellen outlines her priorities for the G20 Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors Meeting

e good morning I'd like to start by thanking Minister hidaji for hosting these me meetings and thanks to all of you for being here today before taking your questions I'd like to step back and recognize President Biden for his leadership over the past three and a half years he's driven a remarkable economic recovery and strong economic growth at home and restored America's standing in the world enabling progress on many of the priorities I'll be focused on in Brazil this week I'm deeply proud to serve the American people with him and vice president Harris and I look forward to continuing to advance us leadership around the globe and deliver results for American families and businesses at home let me now discuss the global economic Outlook the Biden haris administration's approach to bolstering the global economy and furthering us interests and our priorities while in Brazil over the past four years we've faced a global pandemic the effects of Russia's war against Ukraine and other challenges and even two years ago many predicted a dismal outlook for the global economy but they were mistaken today the global economy remains resilient driven in large part by the United un States remarkable economic performance instead of faltering US GDP grew by a robust 3.1% during 2023 and new data from just this morning shows growth of 2.8% in the second quarter of this year affirming the path we're on to steady growth and declining inflation the IMF now expects the US economy to be more than 10% larger by the end of 2024 than it forecasted in October 2019 before the onset of the pandemic in fact the United States was one of the few major economies with a cumulative contribution to Global growth over the past five years that exceeded prepandemic expectations this morning's report and the broader strength we have seen in the US economy in recent years didn't happen by accident it reflects the Biden Harris administration's economic plan 15.7 million jobs have been created since President Biden took office the unemployment rate remains historically low and the prim AG labor force participation rate is higher than it has been since since 2002 inflation is down significantly from its peak trending towards the Federal reserve's target our Administration recognizes that prices are still too high for many Americans so we've Advanced an agenda focused on addressing longstanding cost pressures for families in areas from housing to health care to energy we're also seeing signs of dynamism across the US economy there have been record numbers of new business applications showcasing the optimism felt by many American entrepreneurs growth in business investment from 2022 to 2024 significantly outperformed what's typical in the Years following a recession and we've seen an historic boom in private sector investment in key Industries such as semiconductors clean energy and advanced manufacturing while the Biden Harris administration's economic plan continues to deliver results at home we know that there remain risk to the global economic Outlook and vulnerabilities in some countries and because we see that a prosperous and stable global economy benefits not only the world but also the American people we firmly believe that America must play a leading role including to bolster resilient Supply chains and to address Global challenges if we step back to reflect on the past few years since our Administration took office I believe we have seen our commitment to strengthening ties with our longstanding all Lawes and with Partners around the world and to multilateralism pay off and we will continue to build on its successes to drive further progress following my and Minister stream malani's call to action finance and health ministries came together in record time to launch the pandemic Fund Raising nearly $2 billion dollar for critical Global Investments in pandemic prevention preparedness and response to help mitigate the enormous human and economic costs from potential future pandemics like covid-19 we're now calling for an additional at least $2 billion to double the pandemic funds resources and I was pleased to announce yesterday that the United States intends to pledge up to $667 million or 13 of the $2 billion goal to support the pandemic fund through 2026 with 250 million contributed this year we work with the we worked with the G20 to Rally the global Community to address food insecurity and have seen the international financial institutions significantly Step Up increasing financing for food and agriculture by around 60% over the past two years to$ 155 billion annually we now continue to press the G20 to do more to strengthen the International Food architecture we've made progress on debt relief through the common framework but urge faster progress for debt restructuring and more support to countries struggling with debt service costs and we've worked including through the G20 to evolve the multilateral development bank's Mission incentives operational models and financial capacity leading to enabling over $200 billion in additional lending capacity over the next decade innovative to offer new financial instruments and delivering historic levels of climate Finance we now continue to advance the MDB Evolution agenda and call on the G20 to deliver a robust and impactful Ida policy and financial package the United States will continue to demonstrate our commitment to multilateralism while here in Brazil this week in including through a focus on climate our Administration has made addressing climate change a top priority and treasury has played a key role including through my work with Minister haddaji and other counterparts through the G20 sustainable Finance working group that the United States co-chairs through China and through the multilateral climate funds and mdbs supported by Brazil's G20 leadership we're also prioritizing work to reform the climate Finance architecture to make accessing Finance from the multilateral climate funds easier for countries to better mobilize the private sector and to support scaling approaches that work the work of the independent highlevel expert group is ongoing and I look forward to its recommendations we're also focused on continued efforts to position the mdbs to better address climate mitigation adaptation and resilience and to pursue broader work on the environment including on nature and biodiversity this work is critical to supporting countries in achieving their development goals and we've made significant ific progress developed countries mobilized a record nearly $116 billion to support developing countries in addressing climate change in 2022 40% of which was through the mdbs I will further Advance our work in climate this week including by meeting with my counterparts from the countries of the Amazon basin and private sector represent AES under the Biden Harris Administration the United States is also playing a key role working with our partners to address geopolitical challenges as part of a strong Global Coalition the United States has taken unprecedented action against Russia's brutal and unjust war on Ukraine and treasury remains committed to using all the tools at our disposal to support Ukraine and degrade Russia's ability to sustain this war we continue cracking down on Russian sanctions evasion and have strengthened and expanded our ability to Target foreign financial institutions and anyone else around the world supporting Russia's War Machine as the G7 leaders agreed in aulia we're also advancing work to make approximately $50 billion in additional funding to Ukraine by the end of this year we continue to take action in response to ongoing conflict in the Middle East as well treasury remains focused on countering the Iranian regime's financing of terrorist actors including by taking joint s sanctions actions with our G7 Partners ensuring human itarian Aid can get to Palestinians in in Gaza and stabilizing the West Bank economy I'm glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian Banks but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed and our response to geopolitical risks extends from responding to conflict to making sure that people and economies around the world can Thrive the United States has pursued strong collaboration with emerging markets in developing countries and continues to work toward a healthy economic relationship with China in which American firms and workers can compete on a Level Playing Field this means that I will keep pressing China to address ITS m macroeconomic model which is channeling too much savings and too many subsidies into manufacturing contributing to Industrial overcapacity this poses a threat to the viability of firms and workers around the world and I know my concerns are shared by many at these meetings I look forward to moving our Collective work forward this week and I'll now take your questionsa um hi um there's a lot of questions here given given President Biden's decision to to step aside and not seek reelection about what camela Harris's uh economic program might be uh about her approach to uh International economics uh they're important to this group uh you mentioned them basically in the same breath in your remarks um what's your message to to the delegates here are you telling them that essentially a president Harris would have the same approach as as a President Biden is there any daylight between the two on these policies well thank you for that question and let me just first offer um a few Reflections on President Biden's comments last night I thought that the president displayed Grace patriotism and wisdom in those comments and really these are the traits that Americans um admire in him he has a deep respect and love for the American people for our democracy and I thought that came through last night and certainly vice president Harris shares those same uh deep fundamentals I've been deeply proud to work for this President and for the vice president and I'm committed to continuing that work to make progress on behalf of the American people and I guess what I can say broadly is that both President Biden and vice president Harris for the last three and a half years have been working tirelessly on behalf of the American people and the results I think speak for themselves I mentioned them in my remarks over 15 million new jobs an historically strong labor market key investments in critical sectors of the economy that will fuel our economic growth and vice president Harris clearly deeply understand understands what's needed to make sure that families in America can Thrive can get ahead um I've had the privilege of working with her on initiatives ranging from direct capital um to small businesses particularly minority owned businesses on efforts to make Child Care affordable and on analysis pertaining to the role of you unions in our economy and I would say that vice president Harris is somebody who deeply understands and has contributed to the policies that have produced these important results she um obviously supports middle class families she knows that they are the key to America's economic strength she's been focused on creating good jobs lowering costs for Americans in crucial areas like child care and health care training workers in industries of the future um it's been my privilege and pleasure to collaborate with her and more broadly on issues confronting America in the world um she deeply understands what's necessary to and what and why it's important to restore us leadership on the global stage and she's been a critical part of that effort so um I feel that the core values that um have been reflected in the policies of this Administration are ones that vice president Harris um deeply Embraces Chris Condon Bloomberg News good morning secretary Yellen um no matter what happens in November there will be a new US president new Administration come January um and it's possible that so much of what you have worked for over the last three and a half years could be abandoned or even actively reversed domestically we're talking about the energy incentives for example under the IRA the rebuilding of the IRS and then internationally you've LED efforts on global tax reform climate Finance MDB reform you've deeply engaged with Chinese leaders at the highest levels you've led the effort to support Ukraine and isolate Russia so my question is what would the consequences be for the US and indeed for the entire world if the next us administration were to turn it's back on all of that thank you so I'm covered by the Hatch Act and um don't want to get into electoral politics but what I certainly can say is that all of the initiatives that you mentioned are I believe important to the success of the global economy and to America's um strength and position within it these are all initiatives that Advance the well-being of the American people and in many cases and I would say um a good example of that would be um our support for Ukraine in its struggle against Russia um these are policies that have have had strong bipartisan support most Americans um of both parties recognize that allowing Russia to um trample the independence and sovereignty of a country um that um has done has done nothing to provoke an attack um is something that threatens not only Ukraine but threatens Europe and our own security and it it is not only in Ukraine's interest but in the global interest in all of our interests to stop this aggression and to do so in a way um that involves working closely with our allies um you mentioned the international tax negotiations um we have worked very hard on pillar two and pillar one and I believe the results are broadly seen globally as in the interest of all countries in the case of uh pillar two for example what we've seen over decades is a race to the bottom in which countries compete with one another to attract um multinational corporations to see who can offer the lowest tax rate and this is a self-defeating process that that ultimately only enriches corporations at the expense expense of working people in the United States and around the globe we've been in close touch with um members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and I believe there's every reason for them um regardless of who occupies the White House to ratify that agreement and we're working tirelessly to try to successfully conclude pillar one negotiations the last thing American um companies need is a proliferation of discriminatory Digital Services taxes that um they will confront in the absence of global cooperation so Global cooperation is something that is deeply in the interest interest of Americans and um many of the programs that you mentioned both foreign and demestic have brought bipartisan support so I hope they will continue thank you thank you for doing this I'm and my question is about the g7's argument on Russian Frozen asset uh I'm just wondering is there any argument that the strengthening sanction on Russian asset put any pressure for Russia to toward peace treaty uh how can you be sure that it's not escalating the situation thank you do you're referring to sanctions and not the Russian Sovereign assets yes yeah well I mean working with our partners including Japan um since the beginning beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine we've really had um the objective two objectives of um preventing um Russia from being able to acquire the military um equipment that it needs um to prosecute the war in Ukraine and also trying to constrain and deprive Russia of the ref Vues that it needs to strengthen its economy and by that equipment we've worked tirelessly jointly with our allies to put in place um an evolving and ever tightening regime of sanctions um the price cap on Russian oil which initially was very success successful um as is true with all sanctions programs um as sanctions begin to bind Russia looks for ways um to skirt those sanctions and to accomplish its its goals in other ways and so our approach constantly needs to be um reinforced strengthened taken in New Directions we've done that with the price cap as they um work to build their own Fleet and um make themselves independent of Western um Services shipping insurance and other things with um strengthened our enforcement of sanctions the attestation requirements and we've sanctioned vessels that are uh involved in um carrying Russian oil uh below the price cap and we have sanctioned svom float um vessels and continue to evolve this so I believe we have constrained Russian revenues and on sanctions more broadly our approach continues to evolve and we see that Russia of course has succeeded to a distressing extent in acquiring the military um acquiring the Dual use Goods like semiconductors it needs to build up its military establish lishment and as we see that we continue to take further actions um to try to interfere with their ability to acquire these Goods most recently we've put in place a strengthened regime of um potential sanctions on any foreign financial institution that processes payments involving any sanctioned Russian entity and that includes all the major Russian Banks and we can see from Russia's Behavior and the comments um that their senior officials have made that this is impairing their ability to um acquire the goods that they need but we know that they will look for workarounds and um we're pleased with the sanctions actions that the UK that the Europeans have taken working with us I so I think we've been um as as effective as we can be under these circumstances than you for taking my question I us from K news my question is uh Mr Trump uh said that the strong R is a tremendous burden in the BLB news interview so do you see any burden the challenges for us farms uh in terms of the export export competition in terms of what uh in terms of uh export competition export competition for export companies do I do I see what in terms of you said about the strong I'm sorry I say again so uh do you see any burdens or challenges for us farms in terms of export competition ah export competition so you know the view that our Administration has about the dollar is that we believe in a market determined exchange rate that especially large um economies should allow their exchange rate to uh be determined by International markets and over time I think fundamental um are reflected fundamental economic conditions are reflected in the value of currencies um the G7 has committed that uh participants there will um have Market determined exchange rates intervening only rarely and in situations where there's judge to be undo volatility and after consultation um with Partners so um you know at the moment or over the last several years um the United States has had tight monetary policy interest rates in the United States have been higher than in many parts of the world that's induced Capital inflows that have strengthened um the dollar that's um really something to be expected in a situation where you have a strong economy and a central bank that's working to contain inflation and you know we believe that that's how the system should work hi el Hugh from Associated Press I was wondering if you could clarify the US's position regarding Brazil's proposition of a 2% tax on GL so the United States is strongly supportive of um progressive taxation and um making sure that very wealthy High income individuals pay their fair share um in the United States with President Biden is proposed a large number of policies that would accomplish that including a Billionaire's tax and we think that this is a very worthwhile initiative that it makes sense for most countries to take this approach of progressive taxation but we have very different um and we're happy to work with Brazil on that and and propagating these ideas in the G20 but um tax policy is very difficult to coordinate globally and we don't see um a need or really think it's desirable to try to negotiate a global agreement on that we think that all countries should um make sure that their taxation systems are fair fair and Progressive hello Miss secretary Alvar compus from Brazilian newspaper uh I was wondering if you could comment a little bit about this new initiative the Jin countries launched yesterday uh to strange food security and this new alliance to fight against poverty and food security and also the climate initiatives if uh there's something more us could do regarding this relationship with Brazil in this subject well we were very pleased to participate in the um initiative on uh poverty and hunger that Brazil has president Lula his parti is um proposed and I was pleased to um take part in that conference yesterday as I mentioned in my remarks um especially after Russia's invasion in UK of Ukraine that led to a spike in food pric is that has had a devastating impact on countries that have already um already suffer from food insecurity and have been badly affected by climate change that has had an adverse impact on agriculture that it was important to take immediate and decisive steps um to promote um greater access to food and to support initiatives um that would strengthen agricultural practices productivity and make agriculture more resilient and so we have um United States has given a substantial amount of money has worked with the mdbs um to increase their contributions to food security um with um we sponsored after Russia's invasion of Ukraine an action plan for all the international financial institutions to take action to promote to address food insecurity we've been supportive of ifad and gby the global in multilateral institutions that are addressing Agriculture and resilience so we're very supportive of this effort and hope that we're going to be able to contribute contribute to it through our work