Top US, China trade negotiators unlikely to meet during IMF/World Bank talks, US official says
A potential meeting of US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and China’s vice-premier, Liu He, will not happen, since Liu will skip the international financial gatherings and a G20 finance ministers and central bank governors’ conference
It is unlikely that top US and Chinese trade negotiators will meet this week during a major gathering of international finance officials taking place in Bali, Indonesia, a senior US Treasury official said on Monday.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will not meet top Chinese trade negotiator Liu He, since Liu is not expected to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank this week or the meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers and central bank governors to be held on Friday, the official said.
Mnuchin may hold bilateral meetings with officials of the Chinese finance ministry and central bank, but such meetings would not focus on trade issues, the senior official said.
A second US official, who spoke on condition he not be identified, said “nothing has changed” in the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China.
“Our view is that when they are ready to have meaningful discussions about correcting the trade imbalances and the structural issues we have in the relationship, we’re willing to talk,” the official said.
The senior official expressed concern about the depreciation of the Chinese currency, the yuan – officially called the renminbi or RMB – as well as recent moves by Beijing to strengthen government control over the exchange rate.