U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen looks to India for 'friendshoring', pitches for global trade route away from China

Speaking at a meeting in Microsoft’s office in New Delhi, she said: " The United States and India share an interest in strengthening our supply chains in a world where certain governments wield trade as a geopolitical weapon. Let me explain an approach that the United States is taking to minimize supply chain vulnerabilities. It’s called 'friendshoring'."

She further said: "The United States is pursuing an approach called 'friendshoring' to diversify away from countries that present geopolitical and security risks to our supply chain. To do so, we are proactively deepening economic integration with trusted trading partners like India."

" Our strategy will also create redundancies in our supply chain to mitigate over-concentration risks. And we are also addressing our reliance on manufacturers whose approaches clash with our human rights values," she said.

She further explained: "To be very clear, friendshoring is not limited to an exclusive club of countries. We seek integration with the large group of countries that we can count on – developing countries and advanced economies alike. In fact, part of our 'friendshoring' approach involves partnering with developing countries to grow local industries and connect them to the global supply chain."

"For example, our development finance institution is providing America’s largest solar manufacturer with up to $500 million in debt financing to build a facility in Tamil Nadu in India. This facility will boost India’s solar manufacturing capacity. At the same time, it will help diversify supply chains away from China, which currently dominates over 80 percent of global solar panel production. Our investments are also consistent with our values: certain solar panel materials produced in China – like those from the Xinjiang region – are known to be produced with forced labor," she said.

She said signs could be seen where Western firms are diversifying their supply chains beyond China.

"Technology companies like Amazon and Google are investing in India and Vietnam. Apple recently announced that it was shifting some iPhone manufacturing from China to India. The United States will continue to deepen our business and commercial ties with India as we pursue our friendshoring agenda," she said.