By Andrea Shalal
SEOUL -The USA needs to finish its “undue dependence” on uncommon earths, photo voltaic panels and different key items from China to forestall Beijing from slicing off provides because it has performed to different international locations, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated.
Yellen, who arrived in Seoul late on Monday, advised Reuters she was pushing for elevated commerce ties with South Korea and different trusted allies to enhance the resilience of provide chains and avert attainable manipulation by geopolitical rivals.
“Resilient provide chains imply a range of sources of provide and eliminating to the extent we are able to the likelihood that geopolitical rivals will have the ability to manipulate us and threaten our safety,” she stated in an interview en path to Seoul.
Yellen will map out her issues in a significant coverage deal with in Seoul on Tuesday after touring the services of South Korean tech heavyweight LG Corp throughout the remaining leg of an 11-day go to to the Indo-Pacific area.
In accordance with excerpts of her remarks, Yellen will make a powerful pitch for “friend-shoring” or diversifying U.S. provide chains to rely extra on trusted buying and selling companions, a transfer she stated would additionally fight inflation and assist counter China’s “unfair commerce practices.”
Yellen stated South Korea had “great strengths by way of sources, know-how, talents” and its firms, together with LG, had been already investing in america.
“They've substantial capability to provide superior semiconductors,” was notably necessary given america’ “enormous dependence” on Taiwan Semiconductor, she stated.
It was crucial to cut back U.S. dependence on sure Chinese language exports since Beijing had lower off provides to international locations corresponding to Japan previously, whereas making use of strain in different methods to Australia and Lithuania, a senior Treasury official stated.
“They've used coercion to strain a variety of international locations whose habits they've disapproved of,” Yellen stated. “We all know that’s a motive we don’t need to be depending on China.”
Regardless of her robust phrases, Yellen stated the connection with China was not “completely unfavorable or escalating into tremendously hostile territory.”
She stated China was listening to U.S. issues in different areas and that it had now made some constructive strikes on restructuring the debt of low-income international locations.
“We now have actual issues with respect to China and we’re urgent them, however I don’t need to convey an image of purely escalating hostilities with China,” she stated.
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