US treasury secretary upbeat on economic ties

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin emphasized Tuesday that he is pleased with the direction of the US-China economic relationship.

"It is very much a very important relationship for us," he told the annual meeting of the US-China Business Council, which represents some 200 US companies doing business in China.

Mnuchin described the summit between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in April as a good start.

"I think it was a great opportunity for President Trump and President Xi to build a relationship, or each of them to understand the other's perspective," he said.

"I think we made very good progress," he said, citing the newly established Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, which is expected to be held this summer.

Mnuchin applauded the 100-Day Plan agreed upon by the two sides at the summit. The United States and China released the first results of the action plan in May, covering agricultural trade, financial services, investment and energy.

As a result, China will resume the importation of US beef and open the market for some US financial services firms, while the US will open the market for cooked poultry from China and export liquefied natural gas to China.

On Tuesday, Mnuchin also cited as a major accomplishment the bilateral cooperation on terrorism and financial intelligence and the countries' discussions on sanctions and related activities pertaining to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"So I couldn't be more pleased with the direction of where we are heading," he told an audience of mostly corporate and policy leaders.

The former Goldman Sachs executive reiterated Trump's emphasis on balanced trade. "The Chinese heard that," Mnuchin said. "They understand that. That's not going to change overnight. But that's something we are working towards," he said. But he said the objective is to increase US exports, not for the US to decrease its imports.

Mnuchin noted that both sides know that certain things they want to change will take time. "We want to make sure that we are on the same page, (that) we have the same objective. We will figure out how we execute through our system and their system," he said.

The 54-year-old emphasized that the Trump administration is looking to negotiate specific issues of market access and fairness, as opposed to a large agreement like the Bilateral Investment Treaty. "Once we make progress in that, we can turn to the bilateral investment agreement," he said.

The USCBC has called in recent months for the Trump administration to conclude a high-standard BIT with China as soon as possible. The two countries had made good progress in negotiating the BIT under the Obama administration but still failed to reach a final agreement.

Mnuchin also said that the US had discussions with the Chinese on the currency issue. He said the good news is the Chinese used significant reserves in stabilizing the yuan, which indirectly helps US companies.

"But it is definitely something we are going to be vigilant about and make sure that in no way it is used for competitive advantage on their part," he said.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com