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China's Vice Premier expressed concern over US measures
Economy
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng expressed concern over recent US actions against China
during a phone call with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamison Greer on Thursday.
He expressed "serious concern" about the measures taken, according to a statement from China's official Xinhua news agency. The two sides agreed to "strengthen communication, build mutual trust, and dispel doubts," the release said.
Bessent and He have met regularly over the past year and a half to discuss sensitive issues in US-China relations, including tariffs, rare earth metals, and the social media platform TikTok. These talks led to a fragile thaw that allowed President Donald Trump to make a state visit to Beijing in May.
The world's two largest economies are currently in a trade truce, which has resulted in the suspension of some tariffs and other export restrictions.
Tensions have recently escalated over a number of issues, including the imposition of new import tariffs as part of Trump's reimposition of tariff barriers, access to rare earth minerals, possible Chinese arms sales to Tehran during the US-Iran war, and the emergence of Chinese artificial intelligence models.
New open AI models are capable of competing with the most advanced developments by American companies. Bessent recently suggested that US sanctions could be used to counter what he described as possible intellectual property theft by Chinese AI companies.
The US has also imposed restrictions on foreign robots and inverters, citing "supply chain vulnerabilities." The Federal Communications Commission's restrictions do not explicitly mention Beijing, but most of these goods are manufactured in China.