US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer called for stability with Beijing days before US President Donald Trump’s closely watched trip to China, saying the US was not out to reshape the Chinese economy but to rebalance trade.
The trade chief told Fox News on Friday that while the world’s two largest economies “always had a really robust trading relationship … it’s been wildly unbalanced with China exporting just vast amounts of goods to the United States and largely blocking a lot of US imports and goods”.
“Our goal going forward is to have stability,” Greer said.
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“I think there’s not really a situation where we go and get China to change the way they govern, the way they manage their economy, that’s all baked into their system. But I think there is a world where we find out where we can optimise trade between China and the US to achieve more balance.”
“We think we can have a conversation with China about bottom line outcomes, how much can we be shipping to them, how much should they ship to us, [and] what kind of goods should those be,” he added.
Trump threatens to delay China visit if Beijing does not send ships to help secure Hormuz
Trump threatens to delay China visit if Beijing does not send ships to help secure Hormuz
Trump is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week, with the summit expected to cover a range of issues including bilateral ties, the Iran conflict and Taiwan.