Commerce Sec Raimondo Seeks To Assuage Trade Concerns In Beijing Trip

(MNI) London - US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo visits Beijing on Sunday 27 August in what could prove an important trip with regards to US-China trade. Relations between the world's two largest economies remain strained amid geopolitical tensions and US export bans on high-tech chip manufacturing equipment.

• Recent visits by the US Treasury Secretary, Secretary of State, and Presidential Envoy for Climate have all been seen as relative failures, with little tangible in terms of results from the trips. However, Raimondo's trip is seen as an effort by the Biden administration to impress on China that the restrictions on tech exports are highly specialised and relate to national security, and do not indicate an effort by the US to 'decouple' its trade from China.
• In the 24 August US Daily Brief we highlighted that the US is seeking to renew the 1979 Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology. A commitment to extend the agreement would be viewed as a rare positive step in relations between the two sides in recent months.
• Bloomberg reports on another potential 'win' from the Raimondo trip: "The best-case outcome, [said Rob Strayer, the executive vice president of policy at the Information Technology Industry Council, a Washington-based lobbying group for high-tech companies], would be a regularized set of dialogues, rather than a more nebulous commitment to further conversation."