With speculation swirling as to what US president-elect Donald Trump and his team truly have in store for when he takes office in less than two weeks, Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and his US counterpart on Tuesday voiced respective concerns through a communication mechanism set up last year to manage bilateral differences.
A day earlier, Trump again provoked China’s ire by vowing to stick to his guns on full-scale tariffs, fuelling speculation among Chinese researchers and exporters on how Beijing and Washington will engage during his presidency, and on which sectors would be first hit.
In Tuesday’s virtual discussion – probably the last one before Trump’s January 20 inauguration – the vice-premier expressed concerns over Washington’s latest restrictions on Chinese firms and particularly laid out China’s stance on the recent US investigations, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Janet Yellen, according to US Treasury readout, raised issues such as China’s non-market policies and practices, industrial overcapacity and cyber activity, and she reiterated warnings of significant consequences that companies, including those in China, would face if they provide material support for Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Both sides called the talks “candid, in-depth and constructive”, while speaking highly of the communication mechanism’s role in stabilising bilateral relations.
On Monday, Trump was quoted as saying that he and President Xi Jinping had been speaking through representatives, and that Trump believed they would get along.
Also that day, the president-elect denied a Washington Post report that his aides were eyeing pared-back tariffs on critical sectors. China could remain the prime target, as he singled out China for tariffs of 60 per cent, on his campaign trail.