The United States is striving for a more “constructive” relationship with China after this year’s trade war and will continue to pursue a “managed” bilateral trade relationship, its chief trade envoy said, despite concerns lingering over China’s grip on critical minerals and pushback over the White House’s recent approval of H200 AI chip sales.
The comments by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer came after Beijing and Washington fought fiercely throughout the year for the tariff war. The Chinese government imposed rare earth export controls and also turned away American soybeans when the administration of US President Donald Trump elevated its China tariff to a level close to a trade embargo.
“It’s really important to acknowledge that President Trump is very focused on having a constructive relationship with China,” Greer told an event hosted by the Atlantic Council on Wednesday.
Bilateral tensions have been temporarily de-escalated following Trump’s and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting in South Korea in late October. As the US president is slated to have a state visit to China in April and the two leaders will meet a total of four times next year, bilateral trade flows have resumed quickly.
Greer said that despite the US having a lot of leverage over China, “the president’s interest is not in blowing up everything, right? And that includes our relationship with China”.
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The US trade envoy helped design Trump’s so-called liberation day global tariffs and also sat next to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during five rounds of trade talks with China this year.
