China’s Commerce Minister travels to US to meet counterpart, attend APEC meeting

By Joe Cash

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao will meet U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Thursday, his ministry said, having traveled to the U.S. to attend the 2023 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting from Thursday to Friday.

“The Chinese side will exchange views on China-U.S. relations and issues of common concern,” Shu Jueting, Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson, told a regular press conference in Beijing.

On Monday, Wang Wentao met American firms in Shanghai, including Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:), 3M, Dow, Merck, and Honeywell (NASDAQ:), according to a readout from the Ministry of Commerce, telling them that “China will continue to welcome U.S.-funded enterprises to develop in China and achieve win-win results.”

China on Sunday declared U.S. chip manufacturer Micron (NASDAQ:) a national security risk, banning the firm from selling its memory chips to key domestic industries.

The ban followed a series of raids on American consultancies operating in China.

Wang Wentao’s trip to the U.S. comes after Group of Seven (G7) leaders met in Hiroshima, at which U.S. President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders took aim at China over “economic coercion” and said they would “de-risk” without “decoupling” from the world’s second-largest economy in everything from chips to minerals.

Shu Jueting told reporters “China hopes the G7 will not abuse trade and investment restrictions while saying that they will not seek to decouple from the country.”

Wang Wentao earlier this month met U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns in Beijing, potentially paving the way for a visit from top U.S. officials, after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a planned February trip after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon that flew over sensitive military sites.

Raimondo and Blinken, as well as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have all expressed interest in visiting China.

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