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9/21/2023

Remarks by Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen at the Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards in New York, New Y…

Remarks by Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen at the
Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards in New York, New York
September 20, 2023

As Prepared for Delivery
Thank you, Chrystia, for your kind words and your leadership. And thank you to the Atlantic
Council. I am honored to receive this award – and to be among such distinguished fellow
recipients.
When I was born, the world was still recovering from the devastation of the Great Depression
and the Second World War. From the rubble of these crises, the United States and many other
countries charted a post-war course premised on a conviction: that each nationʼs stability and
growth depended on our collective security and prosperity.
This is equally if not more true today. I took o ice in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic,
which underscored just how interconnected we all are. From the beginning of the
Administration, we made clear that American isolationism and retrenchment were over. And
we set forth a new guiding principle: America is strongest when we engage with the world. As
my nationʼs chief economic diplomat, I have since worked to faithfully apply that principle.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, we witnessed the determination of the
Ukrainian people as they fought for their lives and freedom, and for the values we all share.
And we knew we had to support them with a decisive response. As we look back on the past
year and a half of the war, itʼs clear that many of our actions so far would have been
impossible to undertake if any country were attempting them alone. Our unprecedented
multilateral sanctions regime and novel price cap on Russian oil exports are e ective in
pressuring Russia only because we acted as a global coalition. And I believe the global
economy is in a better place than many of us thought it would be a year ago due to our
collective actions. This commitment to multilateralism should drive our continued e orts to
exert more pressure on Russia to end its unjust war, and to support the Ukrainian people. And
it should shape our actions in crises to come.

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9/21/2023

Remarks by Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen at the Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards in New York, New Y…

Robust engagement with the world is not confined to moments of crisis, however. Itʼs
required, for example, to hold o the steady march of climate change, which is a ecting
communities across America and around the world. To invest in a global health system that
can prevent and withstand the next pandemic, avoiding the immense human toll and
economic damage like that we saw from COVID-19. To create a fairer international tax system
that ends a race to the bottom and benefits working people around the world. So, weʼve
helped lead e orts to establish a pandemic fund and to align over 130 countries on a global
minimum tax. Weʼve put forward a new vision for development in the 21st century focused on
global challenges and collaborated with others to evolve the multilateral development banks
to make good on it. Weʼre also working to stabilize relations with China by seeking a healthy
economic relationship that benefits both sides and enables cooperation on global challenges,
while protecting our vital national security interests. In sum, weʼve engaged with the world,
including through committed coalition-building, and with a view to building the global
economy we need for the long term.
In todayʼs world, weʼre in it together. And we have to go at it together if we want to make our
nations and the world safer, healthier, and more prosperous. Thank you again for this honor. I
look forward to the collective work ahead of us.
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