US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo told Chinese officials Tuesday that the United States was not seeking to sever economic ties with China, but she expressed a litany of concerns that were prompting the business community to describe China as “uninvestable.”
Raimondo, who oversees both trade promotion and US limits on China’s access to advanced technology, spoke with several of China’s top officials Tuesday. That included meeting with Premier Li Qiang, China’s second-highest official, and Vice Premier He Lifeng, who oversees many economic issues, at the Great Hall of the People, next to Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing.
Raimondo said she had pressed Chinese officials on a variety of challenges facing US businesses operating in China. Companies have expressed concerns about long-running issues like intellectual property theft as well as a raft of newer developments, like raids on businesses, a new counterespionage law and exorbitant fines that come without explanations, she said during an extended interview with reporters on a high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai on Tuesday evening.
“Increasingly, I hear from businesses China is uninvestable because it has become too risky,” she said.
Raimondo said after the meetings that she had raised the various concerns of US companies like Intel, Micron and Boeing, but that she “didn’t receive any commitments.”
“I was very firm in our expectations. I think I was heard,” she added. “We’ll have to see if they take any action.”
Raimondo also asked for China’s cooperation on broader threats like climate change, fentanyl and artificial intelligence. The Chinese in turn asked for the United States to reduce export controls on advanced technology and retract a recent executive order that bans new investments in certain advanced technologies, Raimondo said. The commerce secretary said she had refused those requests.
Still, Raimondo tried to assure the Chinese that export controls applied only to a small proportion of US-China trade, and that other economic opportunities between the countries should be embraced.
“This isn’t about decoupling,” she said. “This is about maintaining our very consequential trade relationship, which is good for America, good for China and good for the world. An unstable economic relationship between China and the United States is bad for the world.”