US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Saturday that upcoming U.S.-China talks will address a complaint from the top Biden administration Beijing’s economic model And Trade practices putting American companies and workers at an unfair competitive disadvantage.
“I think the Chinese are aware of how concerned we are about the impact of their industrial strategy on the United States, about the possibility of flooding our markets with exports that make it harder for American companies to compete,” Yellen said afterwards to reporters the announcement during their trip to China.
“It’s not going to be solved in an afternoon or a month, but I think they’ve heard that this is an important issue for us,” she said.
The two sides will have “intensive exchanges” on more balanced economic growth, according to a US statement issued after two days of extended meetings between Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in the southern city of Guangzhou. They also agreed to begin an anti-money laundering exchange. It was not immediately clear when or where the talks would take place.
Yellen, who arrived in Beijing later after beginning a five-day visit to one of China’s major industrial and export hubs, said the talks would provide a structure to hear each other’s views and try to address them American concerns about production overcapacity in China.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said the two sides agreed to discuss a range of issues, including balanced growth of the United States, China and the global economy, as well as financial stability, sustainable finance and anti-money laundering cooperation.
Xinhua said China has responded comprehensively to the issue of production capacity, but the report did not provide details. According to the agency, China also expressed grave concern about American trade and economic measures that restrict China.
Chinese government subsidies and other policy support have encouraged the development of solar panels Electric vehicle manufacturer in China to invest in factories and build far more production capacity than the domestic market can accommodate.
The huge scale of production has driven down costs and sparked price wars for green technologies, a boon to consumers and efforts to reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels. But Western governments They fear this capacity will flood their markets with cheap exports and endanger American and European jobs.
“It will be critically important for our future bilateral relations and for China’s relations with other important countries, and this provides a structured opportunity to continue to listen to each other and see if we can find a path forward that avoids this They conflict,” Yellen told reporters.
The exchange on balanced growth and money laundering will take place within existing economic and financial working groups set up after Yellen’s meeting with He in July.
Yellen spoke positively about joint efforts to address U.S. concerns about Chinese companies selling goods to Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.
“We believe there is more to do, but I see it as an area where we have agreed to work together and we have already seen some significant progress,” she said.
Previous state media coverage of their trip had cited U.S. concerns about overcapacity as a possible pretext for tariffs. In a commentary published Friday evening, Xinhua wrote that while Yellen’s trip was a good sign that the world’s two largest economies are continuing to communicate, “highlighting ‘Chinese overcapacity’ in clean energy also has the impression.” “To create a pretext for introducing more protectionist measures.” Policies to protect US companies.”
Yellen told reporters during a refueling stop in Alaska en route to China that the U.S. would “not rule out” tariffs in response to China’s heavily subsidized manufacturing of green energy products.
The United States has made efforts through laws and regulations to wean itself from certain Chinese technologies in order to expand its domestic production capacity. Many members of the White House and Congress view the measures as important to maintaining national security.
The $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act The law, passed in 2022, aims to boost the semiconductor industry and scientific research to create more high-tech jobs in the United States and help it better compete with China. US President Joe Biden was added last August signed an executive order to block and regulate US high-tech investments towards China.
Yellen will hold meetings with other senior officials and economic experts in Beijing on Sunday and Monday.
___
Moritsugu reported from Beijing.