Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Monday made the case for the United States to continue its global economic leadership as the adminstration faces criticism from Donald Trump and other presidential candidates.
“We know that the global landscape of the next century will be very different than that of the post-war era,” Lew said in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. “And if we want it to work for the American people, we need to embrace new players on the global economic stage and make sure they meet the standards of the system we created, and that we have a strong say in any new standards.”
{mosads}“The worst possible outcome would be to step away from our leadership role and let others fill in behind us,” he added.
While the Treasury secretary’s speech did not mention any presidential candidate, it comes as candidates on both sides of the aisle have criticized the Obama administration on trade.
Lew said that over the past year, the Obama administration has taken steps to advance the country’s global economic leadership. These efforts include working with Congress on legislation about reform of the International Monetary Fund, Trade Promotion Authority and the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank.
However, “to ensure the benefits of our global role remain available to future generations, we have more work ahead of us,” Lew said.
The U.S. needs to continue to work with other countries to modernize the International Monetary Fund and make the World Bank and regional development banks more efficient, the Treasury Secretary said.
The U.S. also needs to push for innovative features in trade agreements, continue to lead efforts to reform the global financial regulatory system, combat terrorist financing and build on its work with countries with emerging markets, he added.