Key Points
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is in China to take part in bilateral talks with the nation on their shared economic interests
- Janet Yellen has become the second U.S. Cabinet member to visit the nation in a month as high-level communication continues between the two nations.
US’s Janet Yellen is in China for bilateral business talks as the relations between the two countries have become sour recently. Yellen is now the second member of the U.S. Cabinet to visit the Asian super economy in a month, among high-profile visitors who have been there for business purposes like Elon Musk and Apple’s Tim Cook.
Janet Yellen spearheads further economic talks with China despite fallouts
Janet Yellen’s visit to China will be followed by the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry’s in the coming days. These visits have been more frequent as the two nations seek to mend their relations which seem to have been falling further apart as days pass.
China has joined hands with Russia and other nations to form a breakaway economic bloc (BRICS+) that would see them cease using a ‘weaponized’ dollar in bilateral and multilateral trades among the member states. The US is also de-risking from China’s global supply chains and has called on its allies like the U.K. to do the same.
As such, the two nations have stood against each other, with the future looking to split them further. However, via Janet Yellen’s visit to China, the US has revealed that it doesn’t purpose to decouple from the Asian nation despite the existing hints.
Official statements from the two nations also show that there are plans for further talks between the two nations.
“Differences should not be a reason for estrangement, but rather a driver for strengthening communication and exchanges,” China’s Ministry of Finance said in a statement Monday about Yellen’s visit.
The Ministry of Finance indicated that China had asked the US to remove tariffs on Chinese goods and stop pressuring Chinese companies, among other things.
“My purpose is to make sure we don’t engage in a series of unintended escalatory actions that will be harmful to our economic relationship with one another,” Yellen said in an interview that aired Saturday on CBS News.’
She added that the events of the COVID-19 pandemic factored in the souring ties between the two nations. However, she believes steps should be implemented to prevent further escalation, and her trip seems to be doing much about it.
“And I think my trip has been successful in forging those relationships and creating the opportunity for a deeper set of more frequent contacts at our staff levels.”
Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on US-China relations and other fintech-related developments.