The US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao convened the first ministerial-level meeting under the two nations’ commerce authorities’ communication mechanism on Thursday in San Francisco. During the meeting, they discussed issues of mutual concern and engaged in “practical, constructive, and productive” communications regarding China-US economic and trade relations.
The officials discussed key issues in bilateral economic and trade relations as well as the implementation of the consensus reached by the two heads of state at their recently concluded summit in San Francisco. According to a statement from China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), they praised the positive strides made in the field of commerce between the two sides and talked about specific issues that the enterprises in the two countries are worried about.
Positive outcomes from the meeting, according to observers, demonstrate both parties’ willingness and practical need to boost trade and economic cooperation in the face of global uncertainty. Bilateral cooperation is anticipated to expand into a wide range of areas. The observers noted that despite the US’s unlikely easing of its containment of China’s high-tech sector, difficulties still exist in the economic and trade ties between the two countries and called for increased trust and exchanges to stabilize relations.
According to MOFCOM, the two parties decided to support each other’s provinces and states in promoting trade and investment, to hold the first meeting of the working group on commerce and trade at the vice ministerial level in the first quarter of 2024, and to collaboratively foster cooperation between US and Chinese businesses in order to produce.
Wang emphasized that the politicization and misuse of the term “national security” has impacted regular investment and trade, and it is crucial that the two parties talk about where national security boundaries are on the fronts of trade and economics. Concerns were voiced by Wang regarding US Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, restrictions on two-way investment, sanctions against Chinese companies, and controls on US chip exports to China.
Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday that “the meeting between Chinese and US commerce ministers underscores both sides’ willingness and pragmatic need to strengthen economic cooperation as part of the implementation of the consensus reached by the two heads of state.”
He stated that although high-level opening-up is required for China’s high-quality development, the US side hopes to export more energy and agricultural products to China and import inexpensive but high-quality Chinese goods.
China and the US can fairly easily come to agreements in the area of trade and economics. Liu stated that their collaboration could then be expanded to other areas.
Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Friday that China and the US, as the two most significant economies in APEC, use the platform to push for reaching consensus, which has a positive significance in helping maintain opening-up within the Asia-Pacific region.
Zhou stated that stability in China-US economic and trade cooperation as well as cooperation in emerging sectors was made possible by the discussions between the two ministers of commerce. This creative approach to addressing issues of shared concern is also a model for other economies.
More areas of cooperation will foster greater trust and exchanges and enable decision-makers to make better-informed choices, Zhou said, helping to stabilize bilateral ties even though the US is unlikely to change its general strategy toward China.
Liu stated that because of the US’s deeply embedded foreign policy toward China, it is unlikely that it will loosen its containment of China’s high-tech rise and might even intensify sanctions and crackdowns.
