Washington, August 12 (FFN) – The U.S. government announced on Monday that it will send a delegation from the Treasury Department and the financial sector to China this week for working-level talks. The aim is to maintain stable relations between the world’s two largest economies despite ongoing trade tensions, according to a report by AFP.
The discussions will take place under the framework of the Financial Working Group, established last year alongside the Economic Working Group, which reports directly to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.
The meetings, scheduled for Thursday and Friday (August 15-16) in Shanghai, will focus on financial stability, cross-border data issues, and efforts to combat fentanyl. The U.S. delegation will be led by Brent Neiman from the Treasury Department, joined by officials from the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Chinese side will be led by Xuan Changneng, Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China.
According to Neiman, the U.S. delegation aims to include discussions on financial stability, cross-border data concerns, lending and payment systems, and measures to improve communication during financial stress.
American officials also plan to address potential revisions to China’s anti-money laundering laws. This will be the fifth meeting of the joint Financial Working Group and the second to be held in China.
This trip to Shanghai follows Secretary Yellen’s previous talks in Beijing and Guangzhou with senior Chinese officials, during which she strongly warned against the risks of China’s excessive industrial capacity—a concern that Chinese officials have largely set aside.
The Biden administration is also working to prevent the import of chemical precursors used to manufacture fentanyl into the U.S. Progress has been made in this area, with Beijing conducting its first crackdown on producers of the chemical precursors for the drug, which is a major driver of the addiction epidemic in the United States.
