By FATIMA HUSSEIN and HYUNG-JIN KIM
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The U.S. and South Korea ought to deepen their commerce ties to keep away from letting different international locations use their market positions to unfair benefit, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen mentioned Tuesday throughout a go to the place she additionally urged the U.S. ally to assist a plan to hunt a value cap on Russian oil.
Soaring power costs figured closely within the conferences in Seoul. During his talks with Yellen, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol known as for worldwide cooperation in stabilizing power costs and easing provide chain disruptions which have contributed to decades-high inflation, Yoon’s workplace mentioned.
In her remarks at a analysis and improvement facility run by LG, considered one of South Korea’s largest enterprise teams, Yellen mentioned Russia was threatening to spark a world meals disaster by blocking ports in Ukraine after its invasion of the nation precipitated power costs to surge.
“All responsible countries must unite in opposition to this war and work together to end it swiftly,” Yellen mentioned. “And that’s why the United States and other responsible allies and partners are seeking to reduce Russia’s revenue to wage its war without causing a necessary volatility in global energy markets.”
In response to Yellen’s enchantment to again the price-cap scheme, South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo kyung-ho mentioned his nation was keen to take part and the plan should be formulated in a method that may assist stabilize international oil and shopper costs, the ministry mentioned in a press release.
In April, LG introduced plans to construct a $1.4 billion battery plant in Queen Creek, Arizona. The U.S. has welcomed such investments as a approach to scale back American reliance on provide chains that may be weak to political antagonisms or disruptions like those who have arisen throughout the pandemic.
“We cannot allow countries like China to use their market position in key raw materials, technologies, or products to disrupt our economy or exercise unwanted geopolitical leverage,” Yellen informed the gathering on the LG facility.
China “has directed significant resources to seek a dominant position in the manufacturing of certain advanced technologies, including semiconductors, while employing a range of unfair trade practices to achieve this position,” she mentioned.
Yellen additionally has criticized China’s financial relationship with Moscow — urging the Asian superpower to make use of its “special relationship with Russia” to steer it to finish its invasion of Ukraine.
Yellen known as on international locations to interact in what she known as “friend-shoring,” to decrease financial dangers for taking part economies.
Friend-shoring, which Yellen has introduced up in a number of speeches, refers to international locations with shared values agreeing to commerce practices that encourage manufacturing and lowering dangers to provide chains.
“The purpose is to lower risks for our economy and theirs,” Yellen mentioned. “In doing so, we can help to insulate both American and Korean households from the price increases in disruptions caused by geopolitical and economic risks and facilitate our businesses access to vital inputs and products from medicine to semiconductors to electric vehicle batteries.”
During her go to to Seoul, Yellen additionally met with Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong. She stopped in South Korea en route again to Washington after attending a gathering of the Group of 20 monetary leaders on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali over the weekend. She visited Tokyo on her approach to Bali. It was her first journey to the area since she turned treasury secretary.
__
Hussein reported from Washington.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”