Biden Administration Tamps Down Talk of US-China Decoupling
Recent speeches by Yellen and Sullivan seek to reassure allies economic conflict between the two superpowers can be contained.
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Faced with allies worried about the consequences of a fragmented world, the Biden administration is working hard to stress that—despite all the angst—it isn’t pursuing a long-term rupture or “decoupling” of the US and Chinese economies. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will carry this message to the meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers in Japan this week, and President Joe Biden will bring it to leaders’ summits in Japan and Australia later this month.
Here’s the rub: China’s leaders certainly don’t put much stock in these assurances, and many US allies and businesses are skeptical, too, fretting they’ll end up as collateral damage in an escalating conflict between the world’s two biggest economies.