Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is considering a trip to China this year, a visit by one of the top US officials driving Washington’s efforts to limit Beijing’s technology ambitions amid multiple tensions between the two world’s biggest economies.
(Bloomberg) — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is considering a trip to China this year, a visit by one of the top US officials driving Washington’s efforts to limit Beijing’s technology ambitions amid multiple tensions between the two world’s biggest economies.
President Joe Biden is “looking to engage with China in all ways that are good for America, commercially, diplomatically — that communication is intended to de-escalate. That’s where we want to be in our relationship with China — not escalating,” Raimondo said in an interview at Bloomberg’s office in Washington Thursday.
“I’m certainly going to be sending my team over — probably even this spring. We’re trying to work that out. And yes, I think probably I would” go, she said.
In 2022, trade in goods between the US and China climbed to a record, a reminder that consumers and companies in the world’s two biggest economies remain deeply connected while their governments diverge on a range of economic and political issues.
The deepening trade ties between the countries risk being challenged by the widening split between Washington and Beijing, which have clashed on issue including human rights, trade and competition for technology and markets.
Washington is working to lessen US reliance on China for merchandise, encouraging Western companies to invest in trusted trading partners such as India in a process known as friendshoring.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.