Yellen to meet US allies during IMF, World Bank meetings, press China on growth

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet finance ministers from US allies this week to discuss a number of issues, including shoring up supply chains, strengthening financial system stability and supporting Ukraine, a senior US Treasury official said on Monday.

Yellen’s meetings on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank spring meetings in Washington also will include in-depth discussions with Chinese officials on “balanced growth”, a new US-China dialogue launched earlier this month to address China’s excess industrial capacity for electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels and other clean energy goods.

On Wednesday, Yellen will meet finance ministers from South Korea and Japan for a first trilateral meeting to coordinate on issues from sanctions on Russia and Iran to securing supply chains and building climate and financial resilience in the Pacific Islands, the Treasury official said.

Yellen also will take part in a financial stability exercise with British and European banking union officials “to help fortify our financial systems for rapid coordination and communication during times of financial stress”, the official said.

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) industrial democracies and Group of 20 major economies also are expected to meet this week. During the G7 meeting Yellen hopes to advance discussions among the allies to unlock the value of frozen Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion.

The discussions with Chinese officials will follow Yellen’s trip earlier this month to Guangzhou and Beijing, in which she made the case for boosting China’s domestic demand and warned Beijing that the US could not accept a massive new wave of cheap Chinese exports of EVs and solar products decimating new US industries in the same way that steel production was damaged a decade ago.