A file photo shows Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen shaking hands with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Beijing. GUANGZHOU, Apr 04 (AFP): US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in China's Guangzhou on Thursday for meetings to press Beijing over fears the country's industrial subsidies for green energy, cars and batteries could flood global markets with cheap goods.
Her second trip to China in less than a year follows a phone call this week between President Joe Biden and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, where they clashed on US trade restrictions but said they hoped to stabilise relations.
Yellen's plane touched down just after 6 pm local time (1000 GMT) in Guangzhou, where she was greeted on the tarmac by US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and Chinese officials.
With hours of bilateral talks scheduled, working meals and a boat tour in Guangzhou, the aim is to get Washington's message to President Xi's inner decision-making circle, a Treasury official said.
Yellen also plans to speak with economic experts and the US business community in Guangzhou, a southern city emblematic of China's manufacturing power.
Top of the agenda will be US concerns over the competitive impact of spillovers Chinese subsidies can create in industries like solar and electric vehicles-key sectors Washington has not ruled out putting up trade barriers to protect.
Beijing's support for sectors like steel and aluminium in the past has "led to substantial overinvestment and excess capacity that Chinese firms looked to export abroad at depressed prices," the treasury secretary said last week.
"Now, we see excess capacity building in 'new' industries like solar, EVs, and lithium-ion batteries," she warned.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
