BEIJING, July 30 (Reuters) – China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng had a video call on Thursday with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer during which he raised concerns about recent U.S. restrictions on trade, China’s state agency Xinhua reported.
The two sides had “candid, in-depth, and constructive” exchanges and agreed to use the China-U.S. economic and trade consultation mechanism to strengthen communication, enhance mutual trust and expand cooperation, according to Xinhua.
Beijing, however, also raised “serious concerns” over recent U.S. trade and economic restrictions on China, the Xinhua reported said.
Last week, the U.S. announced new tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on goods from 60 trading partners over allegations of lax enforcement of forced labour bans. China was assigned a 12.5% rate.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration unveiled bans that target imports of new Chinese robots and power inverters, prompting Beijing to warn of retaliation.
After reaching a trade truce late last year to halt their tariff war, China-U.S. trade relations had remained largely stable. The two countries agreed this year to set up the Board of Trade to explore areas where they could cut duties on goods worth some $30 billion, and China said last week it was seeking opinions on the planned tariff cuts.
(Reporting by Yukun Zhang, Shi Bu and Liz Lee; Editing by Alison Williams and Susan Fenton)
