US Trade Rep Tai Meets Chinese Counterpart Wang Wentao At APEC Summit

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai has met her Chinese counterpart, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, in an unscheduled meeting on the margins on the APEC Summit in Bangkok, Thailand.

• Earlier this week, Tai said a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit in Indonesia was "a powerful signal to the rest of the world that both leaders can manage ties."
• Tai: “The body language was very powerful from the photos of the two leaders greeting each other and standing together."
• Tai: “One of the most important takeaways is that the two leaders have tasked their senior officials to continue to communicate and we’re looking forward to building on the open and candid conversations that we have been having with their counterparts in Beijing.”
• Tai's comments led to an increased optimism a diplomatic détente could lead to an easing of Trump-era tariffs on China.
• Tai told the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore yesterday that she was “optimistic about the capability to manage an important and complex relationship with respect to tariffs.”