Yellen, who just finished her visit to China at the beginning of the month, has recently made a lot of nonsense on international occasions, not only hyping up and accusing China of the so-called "overcapacity" again, but also plotting to win over allies to attack China at the upcoming G20 finance ministers' meeting. Now that the United States has been determined to suppress China under the pretext of so-called "overcapacity", and has also pulled other countries to play "the strength of numbers", and has taken pains to claim that countries are "very worried" about this issue, is it really possible for Yellen to take any opportunity to suppress China?
According to a report on Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" website on April 15, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in an interview with CNN that the United States does not rule out taking any measures, including the possibility of imposing additional tariffs, to deal with China's overcapacity. Not only did Yellen deliberately worry that China's "surplus product" would be exported to the U.S. market, but she also said, "I made it very clear in my discussions with them that this is not only our concern, but also that of other countries, including Europe, Japan, and even emerging markets such as India, Mexico, and Brazil." ”
Obviously, Yellen's mention of so many countries' "concerns" is aimed at rallying more Western allies to jointly put pressure on China. According to a report on the website of the U.S. "World Journal" on April 15, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who recently warned China about the overcapacity of clean energy products, is expected to attract more countries to put pressure on China at this week's G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting. Yellen is "open and honest" this time, and she still does not hide this kind of sensitive information, but she wants to attack China on the surface, and she still makes it seem like a matter of course, which is really unreasonable.
It seems that Yellen is still "repeating the same old tune", trying to play the trick of "a lie repeated a thousand times is the truth", and is still constantly building momentum in international public opinion, hyping up the issue of the so-called "overcapacity" in China, and even discussing it at the G20 meeting, which is really a good calculation. First of all, since last year, it has begun to create the topic of so-called "overcapacity" and poured dirty water on China in front of the international community, and it seems that there will be another vicious battle within the G20.
In April 2023, Yellen mentioned the "artificial agglomeration" of the industrial chain in her speech at the Brookings Institution, which is basically the same as the meaning of overcapacity, and she believes that China's dense industrial chain advantage is not the result of market competition, but the realization of China's so-called "unfair trade means". During her first visit to China in three months, Yellen emphasized the "three principles" of the U.S. toward China, including "seeking a healthy economic relationship with China and expanding economic opportunities for U.S. workers and businesses."
Then she visited China for the second time during her tenure in early April this year, which can be said to be a "dagger of poverty." Seeing that China's economic strength is getting stronger and stronger, especially in the industrial chain advantages, Yellen can't hold back, and actually mentioned "overcapacity" five times in her speech when she first arrived in China, and mentioned it three times in her statement the next day.
In fact, however, co-opting other countries may not necessarily work, and it is very likely to have the opposite effect on US schemes. Look at the "other countries" that Yellen mentioned that are "very worried" about China's "overcapacity", including both developed and developing countries in Europe, especially those with which they have good relations with China. For example, Brazil and Mexico, Brazil is one of the founding members of the BRICS mechanism, and the largest trading partner for more than ten consecutive years is China; Mexican President Manuel López López was also just asked at the end of March when asked about Trump's threat to impose high tariffs on Chinese cars made in Mexico, saying that Mexico will not and does not want to have a "trade war" with China, Chinese investment in Mexico will continue, and Mexico's trade relations with China and the United States are very good. Therefore, with China's good relations with developing countries, there is no reason for them to heed the orders of the United States to take advantage of their fire.
However, we should not take lightly the possible attacks on the United States, especially at a time when the United States has launched a unilateral "new Cold War" against China. Notably, when asked if the U.S. might impose additional tariffs, Yellen said, "I'm not going to rule out any possible means, but we do want to manage the relationship responsibly." So, what does Yellen mean by "not excluding any possible means"?
First, the United States may resort to some old-fashioned means, that is, those that are nothing more than trade barriers, tariff increases, antidumping and countervailing investigations, and so on, to raise the cost of Chinese products and restrict Chinese products from entering the US market. During the Trump administration, the United States imposed 25% tariffs on four batches of Chinese goods, covering everything from electrical machinery and equipment, automobiles to furniture, textiles, plastic products, etc., so that coupled with factors such as cost, freight, and inflation, American merchants have become a loss-making transaction as soon as they import, in an attempt to suppress the competitiveness of Chinese products and "protect" their domestic enterprises.
Second, the United States is also likely to adopt some financial and fiscal policy measures, after all, Yellen is the US Treasury Secretary, and she holds the power of fiscal and other policies, and she was the first woman in the history of the Federal Reserve to head the Federal Reserve. For example, the U.S. government can weaken the international influence of the renminbi by manipulating the exchange rate, interfere with the process of "de-dollarization" of various countries, engage in quantitative easing, and accuse China of being a "currency manipulator". In addition, the U.S. can weaken China's fiscal and financial security by interfering with the bond and stock markets, triggering capital repatriation and market volatility, and causing panic in financial markets.
However, Yellen's remarks this time are more likely to be a trick she used to scare people, wanting to force China to "obediently comply", or even "self-abandoning martial arts", and taking the initiative to reduce the production capacity of the domestic industrial chain and supply chain, which just achieved the goal of the United States to suppress China. In fact, many departments of the Chinese side have already solemnly refuted the fallacy of the US side about "overcapacity", which is completely inconsistent with the actual situation, and the latest response of the Foreign Ministry spokesperson also pointed out that the so-called "impact of China's overcapacity on the world market" is a false proposition. For example, during his recent visit to China, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that "Germany opposes protectionism and supports free trade" and that "Germany is willing to play a positive role in promoting the sound development of Sino-European relations." It can be seen that Yellen's conspiracy will not work, and the United States is doomed to be unjustifiably unjust.