I concluded an extensive and productive two days of meetings with Vice Premier He Lifeng.

We have agreed to launch two significant new initiatives that will advance the interests of American workers and firms and help protect U.S. national security. home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel… First, we agreed to hold intensive exchanges between our nations on balanced growth in the domestic and global economies. We will cover important topics like macroeconomic policies and industrial overcapacity and advocate for a level playing field for Americans workers and firms.

Today, I’m heading to China — first to Guangzhou and then to Beijing — to engage with my counterparts, American business leaders, and others to advance America’s economic and national security interests. At @POTUS’s direction, we’ve worked to responsibly manage our relationship with China from a position of strength. Our economic agenda is driving a historic recovery – and our significant investments in America’s productive capacity will drive continued, strong economic growth.

I was honored to mark the one-year anniversary of the Pandemic Fund launch and its first-year achievements. COVID-19 has shown us firsthand the importance of investing to mitigate the immense human and economic consequences harms of pandemics. In the year since this launch, the Pandemic Fund has raised nearly $2 billion, including $700 million from the United States.

At this week’s G7 meetings hosted by Japan, I met with our closest partners from many of the world’s largest economies to coordinate on action to make the global economy stronger. Together we addressed shared challenges – including those stemming from Russia’s illegal and barbaric war on Ukraine.

The U.S. is the largest and most dynamic economy in the world and we remain firm in our conviction to defend our values and national security. Within that context, we seek a constructive and fair economic relationship with China. Our economic approach to China has three principal objectives. First, we will secure our national security interests and those of our allies and partners, and we will protect human rights.

Today, I'm speaking in Dakar, Senegal on the U.S. commitment to working in real partnership with Africa to realize the promise of a better economic future as Africa shapes the trajectory of the world economy over the next decades. home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel… Africa’s success will mean success for the world. And the United States is here as a partner to help Africa realize its massive economic potential at home, advance its growing leadership abroad, and work on pressing global issues that we must solve together.

The American public – and dedicated IRS public servants – deserve an IRS agency that meets its expectations in a modern society. That includes getting phone calls answered, solving problems online, and receiving refunds more expeditiously. It’s critical that all Americans can get tax help at an in-person location when needed. So by next year, every IRS support center will be fully staffed. As a result, we will triple the number of Americans served at these centers.

In Seoul today, I've had conversations with women economists and entrepreneurs — all leaders in their field who described successes but also challenges that prevent equal opportunity. Their stories are global, and mirror some of my own earlier in my career. In these meetings, I have been reminded that even among the world’s most advanced economies, it is still far too uncommon for women to rise to the top—both in public service and the private sector. Barriers persist in the U.S., Korea, and globally.

As the world grapples with the human and economic costs of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine, much of our focus at the G20 has been on addressing spillover effects. We made clear that Russia had no place at this gathering, and were unequivocal in condemning their shameful actions. I had productive meetings with many of my counterparts on how a price cap on Russian oil can help us achieve our goals of denying Putin revenue for his war machine, while dampening energy costs at a moment when inflation is a major concern globally.

We are on the verge of a historic deal to end the race to the bottom on corporate taxes. A global deal will level the playing field for U.S. companies and provide the resources to invest in priorities that will grow the economy. Right now, the global minimum tax rate is zero. The agreement reached this summer would change that and impose a minimum rate around the world.

Long before a single American was infected with COVID-19, our economy was suffering beneath the surface. Millions of people were running up against structural economic problems: decline in labor force participation, divergence in wages, racial inequality, & climate change. These are, in some ways, different economic challenges than the ones that came along with the pandemic. They’re longer term, slower moving.
But both are subject to our fiscal policy.
Smart fiscal policy can help unwind these trends. The lack of it can help intensify them.

Today is an historic day for economic diplomacy. For decades, the United States has participated in a self-defeating international tax competition, lowering our corporate tax rates only to watch other nations lower theirs in response.
The result was a global race to the bottom: Who could lower their corporate rate further & faster?
No nation has won this race. Lower tax rates have not only failed to attract new business, they've also deprived countries of funding for important investments like infrastructure, education, & efforts to combat the pandemic.

The importance of CDFIs was one of the first subjects @VP raised with me this year, & it’s exactly the right place to focus our attention. Because the questions “Who can access credit & capital? And who can’t?” are at the root of many long-term structural problems in our economy.

https://twitter.com/VP/status/1404907557651501056

Currently, some forms of investment are heavily concentrated within just a handful of cities. Last year, for instance, 71% of all venture funding went to just 4 metropolitan areas.
And we know disparities in who can access capital also fall along racial lines.

Today, Treasury released a report on @POTUS's plan to end the two-tiered tax system where almost all workers pay what they owe, but those who accrue income from opaque sources often don’t.
By closing the tax gap, we can raise much needed revenue to support American families.

https://twitter.com/USTreasury/status/1395471577022664709

How should we address the gap? We build up the IRS, revitalize taxpayer services, modernize technology, focus on high-end evasion, & streamline info gathering. There are no new requirements for taxpayers & most Americans won’t be impacted at all. In fact, almost all will benefit.

Anyone observing the United States in recent years would see striking contrasts across our economic landscape.
It is understandable that many Americans feel left behind. More and more are expressing their discontent. They are right to do so. We've been the largest economy in the world for over a century and our national income has risen steadily. Yet in recent decades, a rising share of that income has gone to profits and disproportionate wage gains at the top, while middle-class families have faced wage stagnation.

This morning, I have the honor of addressing a session at the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences & Academy of Social Sciences event to discuss several areas of great focus for the Administration & @USTreasury: global inequality, corporate taxation, & climate change. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated global inequality, potentially undoing years of gains in reducing poverty & int'l economic convergence. Many low-income countries lack the resources to pay for vaccines, support households & businesses hurt by the crisis & meet debt payments.

One day somebody will write a book on the pandemic & how the economy bounced back. If it's at all accurate that book will include a chapter on the IRS. They were behind the alchemy of turning policy on paper, into money in bank accounts, into food on tables for American families.

https://twitter.com/USTreasury/status/1390306154308247566

The IRS went through a great transformation, adapting during the pandemic. An agency that mainly manages the nation's tax filings and returns once a year, IRS has marshaled its resources to send nearly $800 billion to Americans & implement several rounds of relief programs.

This is the President's vision: To recognize that our work lives – and our family lives – are inextricably linked, & if we want to improve one, then we must improve the other.
Tonight, @POTUS placed education & caregiving squarely where they should be in our national discussion. Education and caregiving are core elements of a strong economy.

Historically, childcare and other social programs to help families haven’t been seen as crucial investments underpinning American growth and productivity. But this is a failure of perspective.

I first started working on climate change in the 1990s, advising President Clinton as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. We understood then that the potential cost of climate change was significant.

Of course, we know what the trajectory has been ever since. Over the past 30 years, the incidence of natural disasters has dramatically increased and the actual and future potential cost to the economy has skyrocketed. We are now in a situation where climate change is an existential risk to our future economy and way of life.

By choosing to compete on taxes, we’ve neglected to compete on the skill of our workers and the strength of our infrastructure. It’s a self-defeating competition, and neither President Biden nor I are interested in participating in it anymore.

We want to change the game. Last week, @POTUS announced proposals that enter the US into a smarter form of competition. The US will compete on our ability to produce talented workers, cutting edge research & state-of-the-art infrastructure, not on whether we have lower tax rates than Bermuda or Switzerland.

Climate, by its very nature, requires strong global cooperation, and finance ministries have a vital role to play to integrate climate into our financial planning & decision-making.
I was honored to discuss today with the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action. Several things are on the horizon for the US on climate action:
As one of his first acts, @POTUS signed an EO for the US to rejoin the Paris Agreement, which we have now done, & announced an ambitious, whole-of-government approach to tackle the climate challenge.