US and China Hold First Meeting of Economic Working Group to Discuss Macroeconomic Developments
The Economic Working Group, a body established to discuss and progress bilateral economic policy matters, holds its inaugural meeting ahead of an anticipated meeting between Presidents Biden and Xi in November, continuing a series of engagements as US-China relations remain strained.
- The US and China conducted a two-hour long virtual meeting under the newly formed Economic Working Group (EWG) to discuss domestic and global macroeconomic developments.
- The conversation was described as 'productive and substantive', with officials from the US Treasury Department and China's finance ministry leading the discussion.
- The US officials raised certain areas of concern, however, these were not elaborated upon in the statement released by the Treasury Department.
- This inaugural meeting of the EWG follows a series of high-level diplomatic engagements between the two nations, against a backdrop of continued strained relations over issues such as trade tariffs, human rights and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The EWG was established last month after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Beijing, and is set to be an ongoing channel for bilateral economic policy dialogue.
Reuters 
CNA 
