Yellen Says Administration Will Fight Currency Manipulation

(Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary-designate Janet Yellen told lawmakers that she will work with President Joe Biden to get countries to refrain from currency manipulation.

“The president has committed to opposing efforts by countries to artificially manipulate their currencies to gain an unfair trade advantage. I am supportive of that commitment and, if confirmed, will work in coordination with the administration to oppose any such efforts,” Yellen said in written responses to a wide range of follow-up questions from senators following her confirmation hearing Tuesday. The document was obtained by Bloomberg News.

In her hearing, Yellen was pressed on whether Biden, who has said he will reverse much of the 2017 tax cuts, would stick to his pledge not to raise taxes on households earning less than $400,000 a year. Yellen, in the written responses, promised to “work with members of Congress” to address this question.

She also dodged the question of whether a repeal of the cap on state and local tax deductions, as proposed by Biden, would deliver a big tax cut to wealthy Americans while doing next to nothing for those in the bottom half of income distribution. Indeed, as in the hearing, she stressed the importance of assessing the impact of the move not on households, but on state and local governments.

She was more direct in responding to criticism of Biden’s plan to reduce the threshold for the federal estate tax, saying “about the wealthiest six out of every thousand estates would face any tax” under the plan.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.