Yellen calls for level playing field for US workers & firms during China visit

Guangzhou: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on China on Friday to address manufacturing overcapacity that she said risks causing global economic dislocation, and to create a level playing field for American companies and workers.

Starting a five-day visit in one of China’s major industrial and export hubs, she raised what the U.S. considers to be unfair Chinese trade practices in talks with senior Chinese officials.

“The United States seeks a healthy economic relationship with China that benefits both sides,” she said ahead of a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in the southern city of Guangzhou.

“But a healthy relationship must provide a level playing field for firms and workers in both countries.”

Earlier, she said at an an event hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China that there are “Chinese practices

that are tilting the playing field away from American workers and firms.”

He didn’t get into specifics in his remarks before the media but said that both sides “need to properly respond to key concerns of the other side.”

High on Yellen’s list is the overcapacity issue. Chinese government subsidies and other policy support have encouraged

solar panel and EV makers in China to invest in factories, building far more production capacity than the domestic market can absorb.

The massive scale of production has driven down costs and ignited price wars for green technologies, a boon for consumers and efforts to reduce global dependence on fossil fuels.

But Western governments fear that that capacity will flood their markets with low-priced exports, threatening American and

European jobs.