The two leading world economies on the path to appeasement? Washington and Beijing have agreed to have "intensive discussions on balanced growth" indicated the US Treasury, in a press release published on Saturday April 6, after two days of talks between Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Chinese counterpart He Lifeng in Canton.

These upcoming exchanges represent a new attempt to stabilize tense relations between the two countries since the meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping last November.

“These exchanges will facilitate a discussion on macroeconomic imbalances (...) and I intend to take this opportunity to advocate for a level playing field for American workers and businesses,” Janet Yellen said in a statement. separated.

The United States fears that the massive subsidies injected by the Chinese government into technologies, green energy, electric vehicles and even batteries will flood the global market with low-cost products, putting companies in these sectors outside China in difficulty. .

Beijing has dismissed Western concerns and last month denounced an EU investigation into its electric vehicle subsidies, describing it as "protectionism."

Janet Yellen suggested on Saturday that progress had been made between the two parties on this point.

"I think the Chinese realize how concerned we are about the implications of their industrial strategy for the United States, about the possibility of flooding our markets with export products that are difficult for American companies to compete with, and that other countries have the same concerns,” said Janet Yellen.

The problem will take time to resolve, but agreeing to a dialogue "offers a structured way to continue to listen to each other and see if we can find a way forward while avoiding conflict ", she added.

Direction Beijing

Janet Yellen was then due to head to Beijing for two days of high-level talks with Chinese leaders.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks to journalists after her meeting with her Chinese counterpart He Lifeng in Guangzhou, April 6, 2024 © Pedro Pardo / AFP

Janet Yellen's visit, her second to China in a year, comes at a time when Washington and Beijing are at odds over a number of subjects, such as access to cutting-edge technologies, the future of Taiwan or the video application TikTok.

The US Treasury Secretary also warned on Saturday Chinese companies that would help Russia in its war in Ukraine. She believes that "companies, particularly Chinese ones, must not provide material support to Russia's war against Ukraine, to the Russian defense industry" and threatened "significant consequences" to those who do so.

“We have been clear with China that we consider that Russia benefits from the support of the goods that China and Chinese companies provide to it”, a subject “on which we are working together”, Janet Yellen told journalists in Canton.

The US Treasury press release also specifies that Beijing and Washington are “committed to working together on common challenges, including climate finance and debt issues in emerging and low-income economies”.

The two countries also want to intensify the joint fight against money laundering within the framework of a bilateral “financial working group”, with a first meeting “in the coming weeks”.

Final preparations before the meeting between Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Chinese counterpart He Lifeng in Guangzhou, April 6, 2024 © Pedro Pardo / AFP

Washington has repeatedly called on Beijing to cooperate to stem the devastating trafficking of fentanyl, a synthetic opiate often originating from factories in China and sold illicitly in the United States.

Presidents Biden and Xi agreed to cooperate on this issue during their November summit in California, which helped stabilize bilateral relations somewhat.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also expected to visit China in the coming weeks, a further sign of the resumption of normal trade between the two powers.

With AFP

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