Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is in China this week, the latest senior U.S. official to visit the economic giant in recent months as Washington continues its efforts to stabilize what has become an increasingly tenuous relationship.
Though the two sides still do a massive amount of business with each other, bilateral trade tensions have only increased in recent years amid mutual tariff hikes, export restrictions, and other measures. One of Raimondo’s goals in meeting with her Chinese counterparts is thus apparently to ensure open lines of communication on these contentious issues, and toward that end she and Chinese commerce minister Wang Wentao agreed Aug. 28 to the following measures.
- A new commercial issues working group will be established to seek solutions on trade and investment issues and advance U.S. commercial interests in China. It will involve both government officials and private sector representatives and meet twice annually at the vice-minister level, with the U.S. hosting the first meeting in early 2024.
- A new export control enforcement information exchange will be launched to help reduce misunderstanding of U.S. national security policies, and its first in-person meeting occurred at the assistant secretary level in Beijing on Aug. 29.
- Subject matter experts from both sides will hold technical discussions regarding strengthening the protection of trade secrets and confidential business information during administrative licensing proceedings.
- Department/ministry leaders will communicate regularly about commercial and economic issues and meet in-person at least once annually.
Raimondo indicated that the U.S. sees these mechanisms as a way to be “direct, open, and practical” in explaining its policies but does not anticipate changing those policies as a result of this engagement. “We believe a strong Chinese economy is a good thing,” she said, and “we are committed to promoting trade and investment in those areas that are in our mutual best interest.” But “in matters of national security there is no room to compromise or negotiate,” and “we will at all times do what we need to do to protect our workers.”
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