The U.S. and China flags support a microphone at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on April 9, 2009.
Frederic J. Brown|AFP|Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo took a seat with her Chinese equivalent Wang Wentao in Washington D.C. on Thursday to go over “concerns” surrounding bilateral trade.
Marking the very first cabinet-level exchange in between the 2 nations in months, the U.S. spoke about American business running in China.
According to a readout by the Commerce Department, “The two had candid and substantive discussions on issues relating to the U.S.-China commercial relationship, including the overall environment in both countries for trade and investment and areas for potential cooperation.”
Raimondo likewise “raised issues about the current wave of PRC [People’s Republic of China] actions taken versus U.S. business running in the PRC,” it stated.
The bilateral exchange in between Raimondo and Wang comes as market observers keep a close eye on whether the U.S. will suppress American financial investments into China, as relations in between the world’s biggest economies sour.
The Group of Seven leaders satisfied Hiroshima over the weekend, and swore to “de-risk and diversify” from Chinese dependence, including that a few of Beijing’s practices “distort the global economy.”
The top-level talks come as China apparently performed evaluations on U.S. audit companies in the mainland over nationwide security breaches.
Earlier today, China revealed it will prohibit some purchases of items from U.S. memory chipmaker Micron— disallowing operators of “critical information infrastructure” in China after a security evaluation performed by the Cyberspace Administration of China.
In action, the U.S. Commerce Department’s representative stated, “We firmly oppose restrictions that have no basis in fact.” He stated the department will engage with the Chinese federal government to “detail” its position and look for clearness.
In the release published by China’s Ministry of Commerce after his conference with Raimondo, Wang likewise raised issues over U.S. policies on semiconductors and export controls.
“The two sides agreed to establish communication channels to maintain and strengthen exchanges on specific economic and trade concerns and cooperation matters,” it stated.
Wang is anticipated to fulfill U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai throughout his check out to the U.S. where he is set to go to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers’ conference.
