Treasury secretary

"Especially with COVID ... we've grown apart and misunderstandings have developed," Yellen says. "It's necessary to meet to discuss our differences openly."

In March, the Treasury secretary told Marketplace that the U.S. and China need to put a "floor" under their relationship.

The Treasury secretary doesn't see a 1970s-style inflation shock on the horizon. "The Federal Reserve wouldn’t permit that to happen."

In her Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday, Yellen is calling on Congress to do more to fight a deep pandemic-induced recession.

Yellen, a former Fed chair, has advocated for more spending to aid small businesses and the unemployed during COVID-19.

Yellen, who is widely admired in the financial world, would be the first woman to lead the Treasury Department.

Fed programs and policy have helped ease economic pain during the pandemic. In its dwindling days, the Trump administration will end some of those emergency programs Dec. 31.

The federal deficit for 2020 was three times the size of last year’s deficit. It was the government’s largest annual shortfall in dollar terms.

Travel firm Booking Holdings has pulled out of the Libra Association as companies involved in the digital currency face increased regulation.

"Everyone understands that there's a price you pay when you use military force. Well, there's a price you pay when you use economic force as well."