Finance

Treasury Minister Yellen and Chinese Liu He held their first face-to-face meeting

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He met face-to-face for the first time in Zurich on Wednesday.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He discussed the US economic and technology policy towards China during his meeting with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.

According to a CNBC translation, China “hopes the US side to pay attention to the impact of policies on both sides”.

The meeting in Zurich was Yellen and Liu’s first face-to-face meeting after three years of COVID-related travel restrictions.

In October, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Industry and Security announced a comprehensive ban on U.S. businesses and individuals from working with Chinese partners on high-end semiconductors, a special division that relies on American and foreign tools for development. The ban followed the Trump administration’s restrictions on reasonable Chinese companies like SMIC and Huawei.

The Biden administration also did not lift the Trump transfer tariffs on China.

As Beijing retaliated with its own tariffs, its most valuable response to US technology bans was to file a dispute filing with the World Trade Organization in December.

In the statement made by the Undersecretariat of Treasury, it was stated that “opinions were exchanged on macroeconomic and financial developments during the sincere, concrete and engaged meeting”.