Agencies
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday told global financial leaders that the American economy had grown stronger due to the Biden administration’s rejection of isolationist policies, subtly criticizing the approach of former President Donald Trump, just two weeks ahead of the U.S. election.
Opening the IMF and World Bank annual meetings, Yellen highlighted U.S. economic growth since the nation was in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without mentioning Trump by name, she said in an advance draft of her remarks that the Biden administration had ended a period of international isolationism that “made America and the world worse off.” ”We went from millions having lost their jobs to a historic labor market recovery,” Yellen says. She said U.S. economic growth has been “almost twice as fast as most other advanced economies this year and last, even as inflation came down sooner.” The IMF released its international outlook on the global economy on Tuesday morning and upgraded its economic outlook for the United States this year while lowering its expectations for growth in Europe and China.
The IMF expects the U.S. economy – the world’s largest – to expand 2.8% this year, down slightly from 2.9% in 2023 but an improvement on the 2.6% it had forecast for 2024 back in July. Growth in the United States has been led by strong consumer spending, fueled by healthy gains in inflation-adjusted wages.
The meetings mark the last major international finance gathering held during the Biden administration and come as economic issues are a top concern for American voters.
Republicans blamed the Biden-Harris administration for inflation, which had reached a 40-year high before dropping.
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the Biden-Harris administration “created an inflation crisis, record-high gas prices, skyrocketing mortgage and interest rates resulting in the lowest consumer and small business confidence in decades.”Voters remain largely divided over whether they prefer the Republican nominee, Trump or the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, to handle key economic issues, according to an October survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Who wins the U.S. election will also have enormous impacts on global finance and the world’s economy.
Trump and Harris have spoken little about their plans for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. However, they have differing views on trade, tariffs and other economic issues.
