US Commerce Secretary Raimondo visits China, calls for stable relations

Asia-Pacific, News, US August 29, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

The United States Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo arrived in Beijing, China, on August 27, 2023, to meet with her Chinese counterpart and other officials, seeking stable ties between the two biggest economies of the world.

Raimondo is on a three-day visit to China where she will hold meetings with high-level officials and business leaders. On August 28, she met with her with China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

The bilateral meeting covered all issues including attempts to decrease tensions between the world’s top two economies. At the end of the meeting, Raimondo said that it was “profoundly important” for the two countries to have stable relations.

“We share $700 billion of trade and I concur with you that it is profoundly important that we have a stable economic relationship,” Raimondo said, according to a readout released by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Raimondo added, “It is a complicated relationship; it is a challenging relationship. We will of course disagree on certain issues, but I believe we can make progress if we are direct, open, and practical.”

*^{U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaking during an event in the East Room of the White House, on June 26, 2023. (Image Credit: Evan Vucci/AP)}*

According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Wentao and Raimondo agreed to “strengthen exchanges on specific economic and trade concerns and issues concerning cooperation.” Raimondo is also scheduled to China’s financial capital Shanghai, and meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Vice Premier He Lifeng during her three-day visit.

Opening channels of communication

Analysts and experts are predicting to see concrete signs of deepening relations between two of the biggest economies on the issues ranging from trade to climate change. Economic relations between China and the U.S. gradually froze after Washington imposed a lot of economic restrictions on China, especially during the Trump era.

The Biden administration followed the same trend. However, due to increasing internal pressure from U.S. enterprises, Washington is easing up relations with China by opening channels of communication after a long patch of rocky relations.

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce has become the fourth high-level U.S. official to visit China since June 2023. The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry have visited Beijing in the last few months despite the increasing tensions.

US and China Commerce Ministers meeting — ^{Chinese delegation led by Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao attending a meeting with the U.S. delegation led by Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, in Beijing, China, on August 28, 2023. (Image Credit: Twitter)}

Staling diplomatic relations between Beijing and Washington were revived after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with U.S. President Joe Biden during the G20 Summit last year in Bali, Indonesia. The two leaders agreed to “deepen communication” during their bilateral meeting.

More bilateral meetings between the U.S. and Chinese leadership are expected as the U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is set visit to Indonesia for the ASEAN Summit on September 4, and U.S. President Biden is traveling to India on September 7 for the G20 leaders’ summit.