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US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to meet Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng in San Francisco amid ‘serious’ trade concerns

  • Yellen’s meeting with He will come after they first met in Beijing in July amid rising US curbs on sensitive technologies
  • The US is expected to raise concerns about China’s ‘unfair economic practices’, Yellen says in an opinion piece

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, shakes hands with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng during a meeting in Beijing on July 8, 2023. Photo: AP
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in San Francisco this week to try to deepen a fledgling economic dialogue between the world’s two largest economies ahead of a US-hosted summit of Pacific Rim leaders.
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The Treasury said the November 9-10 meetings will also convene the new economic and financial forums launched in October by the Treasury and China’s finance ministry and central bank.
Yellen first met with He, China’s new economic tsar, in July, when she visited Beijing to try to stabilise a deteriorating US-China relationship amid growing US restrictions on sensitive technologies.
The San Francisco meetings will take place just before the Biden administration hosts ministers and leaders of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries from November 11-17 – a gathering during which US President Joe Biden is aiming to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
US President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali on November 14, 2022. Photo: TNS
US President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali on November 14, 2022. Photo: TNS

A senior US Treasury official downplayed the idea that there would be specific “deliverables” from the Yellen-He meetings, saying it was not a “policy trade” situation “where we trade one thing for another”.

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But the official said a key aim for Yellen was gaining a better understanding of how the new US-China economic communication line will work, and how to make sure that “it is not vulnerable to shocks”, adding that there will be more frequent interactions.

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