Washington has expressed concern to Beijing about the impact of China's industrial policies on American households and businesses, which could lead to too much production to offset the crisis in China's real estate sector, the US Treasury Department said on Tuesday.
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The world's two largest economies held the third meeting of the economic working group set up by the two countries in October in Beijing on Monday and Tuesday to try to strengthen their ties.
U.S. officials “raised troubling questions including China's industrial policy practices and overcapacity, as well as the consequences for American companies and workers,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement released Tuesday after the reunification.
China, facing an unprecedented crisis in the real estate sector – one of the pillars of its economy – is racing to boost its new growth engines, including electric vehicles and batteries, raising fears of overproduction in the face of lower demand.
In fact, Chinese household consumption remains at half-mast. As for exports, they experienced their first decline in seven years last year, hit by geopolitical tensions and sluggish global demand.
Overcapacity is increasingly becoming a problem in certain sectors, according to a recently released business survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in China.
The Chinese Ministry of Finance, in turn, expressed “concerns about the additional tariffs imposed by the United States on China, bilateral investment restrictions, and sanctions and repression against Chinese companies” during the two-day meeting. says a press release from Beijing.
Donald Trump, who could face Joe Biden in November's US presidential election, plans to impose 60% tariffs on products imported from China if he is re-elected, he confirmed in an interview with conservative channel Fox Business on Sunday.
According to an official figure, China recorded one of its lowest growth rates in three decades last year (5.2%).
The next meeting of the China-US Economic Working Group is scheduled for April.