President Joe Biden downplayed the effect of the U.S. strong-dollar policy on the global economic outlook, saying weakness in other parts of the world is threatening growth.
“I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar, I’m concerned about the rest of the world,” Biden told reporters during a campaign stop in Portland, Oregon on Saturday. “The economy is strong as hell.”
His comments came hours after the International Monetary Fund and World Bank concluded their fall meetings in Washington, where the Federal Reserve’s dollar-boosting interest rate increases were a key topic among delegates.
Biden’s remarks line up with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who told an international audience during the meetings that fighting inflation is the administration’s top priority, even while acknowledging “spillovers from tightening monetary policy in advanced countries.”
She reiterated that “market-determined exchange rates are the best regime for the dollar.”
The dollar spot index has gained as much as 19.5% against a basket of other major world currencies since January, stoked by the Fed’s series of rate hikes to combat the fastest U.S. inflation in four decades.
Biden’s latest messaging contrasted with his comment in a CNN interview on Tuesday that allowed for the possibility of a U.S. recession, though he said: “If it is, it’ll be a very slight recession.”
On Saturday, he reiterated the administration’s insistence that inflation “is worldwide.”
“The problem is the lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries,” Biden said.
