US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that “xenophobia” from China to Japan and India is hampering their growth, as he argued that migration has been good for the US economy.
“One of the reasons our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” Biden said at a fundraising event in Washington for his 2024 re-election campaign, marking the beginning of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander. Heritage month.
“Why is China so bad economically, why is Japan having problems, why is Russia, why is India? Because they are xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants. It is immigrants who make us strong.”
The International Monetary Fund forecast last month that every country would see its growth slow in 2024 from the previous year, ranging from 0.9% in highly developed Japan to 6.8% in emerging India.
They predict that the United States will grow by 2.7%, slightly stronger than last year’s 2.5%.
Many economists attribute the better-than-expected performance in part to the expansion of the country’s labor force by migrants.
Concerns about irregular migration have become a top issue for many American voters ahead of November’s presidential election.
Biden, who has condemned his Republican opponent Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, has worked to build broad economic and political ties with countries including Japan and India to counter China and Russia globally.
