The Daily Update: Yellen’s Treasury Confirmation

In her confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee yesterday, Biden’s nominee for Treasury secretary Janet Yellen indicated that the new administration will likely continue their predecessor’s tough stance against China on selected areas. Yellen called China ‘our most important strategic competitor’ and insisted that the new government is prepared to use the ‘full array of tools to address’ illicit practices. ‘We need to take on China's abusive, unfair, and illegal practices. China's undercutting American companies by dumping products, erecting trade barriers, and giving illegal subsidies to corporations’ Yellen said, adding ‘It has been stealing intellectual property and engaging in practices that give it an unfair technological advantage, including forced technology transfers’.

One area where Biden’s administration will differ from that of Trumps is the approach to the US dollar. Yellen insisted that the ‘value of the U.S. dollar and other currencies should be determined by markets’ and in doing so letting ‘markets adjust to reflect variations in economic performance and generally facilitate adjustments in the global economy’. Trump repeatedly claimed the dollar was too strong and was hampering economic growth. He continually tried to talk the currency down throughout his presidency.

Today Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States with the new president facing one of its most chaotic transfers of power in modern times. In a pre-recorded farewell address, Trump hyped his record on the economy and foreign policy, whilst failing to mention his successor by name. The 20-minute speech, taped on Monday was more about his departure from the White House as the natural conclusion of a job well done, rather than as the consequence of his election loss to Biden according to reports. Trump said his movement is ‘just beginning’.