A group of Biden administration officials is in Shanghai this week for a series of high-level talks aimed at keeping economic relations between the United States and China on a stable footing as trade tensions between the two countries escalate.
The talks will take place on Thursday and Friday and will be held through the U.S.-China Financial Working Group, which was created last year. Officials are expected to discuss economic and financial stability, capital markets and ways to maintain efforts to curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States.
Although communication between the United States and China has improved over the past year, economic relations remain troubled due to disagreements over industrial policy and China’s dominance in green energy technology. In May, the Biden administration imposed new tariffs on imports from China, including electric vehicles, solar cells, semiconductors and advanced batteries. The United States has also restricted American investment in Chinese sectors that policymakers believe could threaten national security.
The U.S. delegation, which departed on Monday, is headed by Brent Neiman, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for international finance. He will be joined by officials from the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission. They are scheduled to meet with People’s Bank of China Vice Governor Xuan Changneng and other senior Chinese officials.
“At this FWG meeting, we will address issues related to financial stability, cross-border data, lending and payments, private sector efforts to advance transition financing, and how to respond in the event of financial stress. We’re going to discuss things like concrete steps we can take to improve communication,” Nieman said ahead of the visit, referring to what the Financial Working Group stands for.
Financial regulators in the United States and China conducted financial shock exercises this year to coordinate responses in the event of a crisis that could affect global banking or insurance systems, such as cyberattacks or climate change. are.
The Biden administration is urging China to take steps to prevent chemicals used to make fentanyl from being exported to other countries or smuggled into the United States. There were signs of progress this month when China announced new limits on three of these chemicals, a move the United States described as a “valuable step forward.”
Discussions continue on other economic issues between the two countries. During her trip to China in April, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen pressured Chinese authorities to stop flooding global markets with cheap clean energy products, saying excess industrial capacity is distorting global supply chains. he warned.
But since last month’s Communist Party leadership meeting, there has been little sign that China will withdraw investment in high-tech manufacturing or take major steps to boost domestic consumption and rebalance the economy.
This week’s talks are the fifth meeting of the Financial Working Group and the second time the officials have met in China.
