Steven Mnuchin expects to visit Beijing ‘in near future’ for US-China trade talks
- Comments by US treasury secretary suggest another round of negotiations will take place before June’s G20 summit, where Trump is expected to meet Xi Jinping
- Mnuchin to have separate talks with G7 finance ministers to update them about issues involving China
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday he expects to visit Beijing “in the near future”, suggesting the United States may hold another round of trade talks with China ahead of a bilateral summit on the margins of a G20 summit in late June in Osaka.
“My expectation is we will most likely go to Beijing at some point in the near future to continue those discussions and I think it’s President Trump’s expectation to meet with President Xi [Jinping] at the G20 at the end of June,” Mnuchin said at a congressional hearing.
The senior official said, however, that there was “still a lot of work to do” before the two countries could reach a deal to end the tit-for-tat tariff war.
He has led trade negotiations with Beijing alongside US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
Speaking at a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Mnuchin said he will attend a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors slated for June 8-9 in Fukuoka, southwestern Japan.
The Treasury chief said he is in “constant touch” with his G7 counterparts about efforts to address what the United States and other countries regard as China’s unfair trade practices such as forced technology transfer.