When the United States’ commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, visits China the next week, China is looking forward to in-depth negotiations with the US on addressing economic and trade concerns, a representative for China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday.
As the most current in a recent round of high-level visits intended to stop a deterioration in relations between the two largest economies in the world, Raimondo is scheduled to visit Beijing and Shanghai for talks with government officials and American business executives.
According to the ministry’s spokesperson, Shu Jueting, “We have noted that China and the U.S. have experienced some difficulties and challenges in bilateral trade and investment, which are related to the various trade protection measures adopted by the U.S. side.”
“China will continue to raise relevant economic and trade concerns with the U.S. and strive to create a fair and stable economic and trade environment,” the official added.
Although researchers have noted that inflation is mostly to blame for this statistic, two-way trade last year reached a record $690 billion as both China’s and the United States’ demand for Chinese consumer goods increased.
However, this year has started off at a noticeably slower rate, with two-way trade flows through June declining by $67.6 billion, or 19.6%, from the first half of 2022.
According to American officials, Raimondo will convey the message that the US will not seek a decoupling from China but will instead defend its national security.
The last time Raimondo and Wang Wentao met was in May in Washington, where they sparred on trade, investment, and export policy. (Joe Cash and Beijing Newsroom contributed to the reporting; Himani Sarkar and Robert Birsel edited it.)