The conversation is poised to become even more difficult, however, as hopes of greater economic cooperation collide with a harsh political reality: It is an election year in the United States, and antipathy toward China is running high. At the same time, Chinese officials appeared unmoved by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s urging that China scale back its recent surge of green energy technology exports, which could threaten American jobs.
Despite a warm welcome on her second trip to China as Treasury secretary, which included meetings with the premier and with senior economic and finance officials, it was evident that the level of trust between the two sides does not run deep.
“There is much more work to do,” Yellen said at a news conference in Beijing on Monday. “And it remains unclear what this relationship will endure in the months and years ahead.”
The Treasury secretary added that she believed that China was engaging in the discussions in good faith and that progress was being made. “I do not want to see the U.S. economic relationship, or the overall relationship with China, deteriorate and fray,” she said.
Her meetings came as the Biden administration announced that it would award up to $6.6 billion in grants to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the leading maker of the most advanced microchips, in an effort to bring some of the most cutting-edge semiconductor technology to the United States. The administration has been doling out billions of dollars to semiconductor companies as it looks to reduce its reliance on China for critical microchips.The most pressing matter that is likely to divide the United States and China in the coming months is how the Biden administration plans to address concerns that Chinese exports of electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and solar panels pose a threat to the very industries that the United States is spending trillions of dollars to develop domestically.In China’s official summary of the talks, the government sought to instill confidence in the country’s economy, saying that it remained an engine of global growth. Beijing emphasized that it continued to push for reform and to open its economy further.