United States President Joe Biden has opened up about the Inevitability of recession in the United States while reiterating his previous opinion that it is not inevitable. He said this on Monday, while acknowledging the economic pain experienced by Americans as inflation soars.
Speaking in Tokyo, Biden replied “no” when asked if a US recession is inevitable.
“This is going to be a haul, this is going to take some time,” Biden said.
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The US economy has recovered strongly from its Covid-19 era shutdown, but the highest inflation in four decades and persistent problems in getting international supply chains flowing again are driving pessimism — and Biden’s sinking poll numbers.
Biden blamed inflation on fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other global problems and he defended US economic performance.
“We have problems the rest of the world has but less consequential,” he said.
While acknowledging the high fuel prices and food supply crunches caused by the war in wheat-producing Ukraine, Biden said his administration would continue to “grow our economy, create jobs”.
Last week Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said “I really don’t expect the United States to fall into a recession”.
However, she cautioned that European countries, which are among the biggest US trading partners, “are more vulnerable” due to reliance on Russian energy imports.
The United States would defend Taiwan militarily if it was attacked, President Joe Biden also announced during the news conference in Japan.
Biden added that China had no right to seize the island by force.
Asked by a journalist whether the US would defend Taiwan militarily in the case of an attack, Biden replied: “Yes’’.
“That’s a commitment we made,’’ he added.
He stated that a forcible takeover of Taiwan would dislocate the entire region, and was comparable to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We remain committed to supporting the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and ensuring that there is no unilateral change to that status quo,’’ Biden added.
The briefing was a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida.
