Yellen: we won't let China imports kill industry

STORY: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has wrapped up a visit to China marked by a strong message for her hosts.

She says Washington won’t let cheap imports from the country kill jobs in American industry.

Since arriving last week, she’s pressed U.S. arguments that Chinese industry is producing too much, fueled by government support, and putting a strain on global markets.

Yellen returned to the issue at a concluding news conference on Monday in Beijing:

"When the global market is flooded by artificially cheap Chinese products, the viability of American and other foreign firms is put into question. And we've seen this story before. Over a decade ago, massive PRC government support led to below-cost Chinese steel that flooded the global market and decimated industries across the world and in the United States.”

Yellen says U.S. President Joe Biden is determined to avoid a repeat of the so-called “China shock” of the early 2000s.

That saw a flood of cheap Chinese imports destroy some 2 million American manufacturing jobs.

She raised the issue in a series of meetings, including with Premier Li Qiang, and offered some suggested remedies:

"One possible approach would be to boost demand and to see a larger share of GDP accrue to households to bolster their income and/or to, for example, bolster retirement security, the ability to afford education for one's children and so forth, which are motives for very high saving and call that rebalancing.”

Yellen identified electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels as among areas of concern.

However, on Monday she made no move to threaten new sanctions over the issue.

Chinese officials say her criticism overstates the impact of state support for industry, and underestimates how innovative the country’s companies are.