US Commerce Secretary held discussions with China’s premier on Tuesday to tackle global challenges, marking a stride forward in the US’s endeavors to enhance relations with its primary strategic rival.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with China’s premier on Tuesday, calling for Beijing and Washington to work together to solve issues of global concern.

Raimondo’s trip to China is the latest by a senior US official in recent months as Washington seeks to defuse tensions with the world’s second-largest economy.

On Tuesday she held another round of talks with Chinese officials, meeting Premier Li Qiang to stress the importance of open communication between the two powers.

Pointing to areas of “global concern” like climate change, Artificial Intelligence, and fentanyl addiction, she told Li that Washington wants to “work with you as two global powers to do what is right for all of humanity.”

 

Raimondo also reiterated the US position that it is not seeking to decouple its economy from China’s.

Earlier on Tuesday, Raimondo met China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng, describing the US-China commercial relationship as “one of the most consequential” in the world.

Raimondo heads to China’s economic powerhouse Shanghai later on Tuesday and will leave the country on Wednesday.

‘Reduce misunderstanding’

Relations between the two countries have plummeted to some of their lowest levels in decades, with US trade curbs near the top of the list of disagreements.

This month, Biden issued an executive order aimed at restricting certain US investments in sensitive high-tech areas in China, a move Beijing blasted as being “anti-globalization.”

Raimondo’s trip has seen the US seek more open discussions with the Chinese over such policies, however.

On Monday she met with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, with the two sides agreeing to set up what Washington called an “export control enforcement information exchange,” described as a platform to “reduce misunderstanding of US national security policies.”

Beijing has painted a less rosy picture, saying Wang had raised “serious concerns” over Washington’s trade curbs on Chinese businesses.

Those included “US Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, its semiconductor policies, restrictions of two-way investment, discriminatory subsidies, and sanctions on Chinese enterprises,” Beijing’s commerce ministry said.

Katrine Dige Houmøller, with AFP