Yellen Warns China's Industry Ramp-Up Is Distorting World Economy

  • Treasury secretary calls out China for excess capacity buildup
  • China overcapacity ‘distorts global prices and production’
Janet YellenPhotographer: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen slammed China’s use of subsidies to give its manufacturers in key new industries a competitive advantage, at the cost of distorting the global economy, and said she plans to press China on the issue in an upcoming visit.

“There is no country in the world that subsidizes its preferred, or priority, industries as heavily as China does,” Yellen said in an interview with MSNBC Wednesday — highlighting “massive” aid to electric-car, battery and solar producers. “China’s desire is to really have global domination of these industries.”