US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is planning to visit China in late August, according to people familiar with the matter, part of the Biden administration’s effort to reduce tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
Raimondo is aiming to travel to Beijing the week of Aug. 21, although the dates aren’t finalized and could shift, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss her plans.
The Commerce Department’s press office declined to comment on trip timing and didn’t respond to questions about the topics Raimondo would want to discuss with her counterparts. She said at an event in Washington last week that she plans to go to China “later this summer” but is “still finalizing a date and plans.”
Raimondo, whose emails were hacked earlier this month in a breach tied to China, has been at the forefront of White House efforts to curb Beijing’s access to advanced technology, including export controls announced last year.
Her trip could come at a sensitive time in the bilateral relationship, with Biden set to sign an order curbing critical US technology investments in China by mid-August.
On her first trip to China as commerce secretary, Raimondo would be the fourth high-level member of President Joe Biden’s administration to visit since June, following Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and climate envoy John Kerry.
The earlier visits by top administration officials have yet to deliver significant public results beyond agreeing to further dialogue. The White House is looking to smooth ties with Beijing following months of heightened tensions over incidents including an alleged spy balloon, the US export controls on computer chip technology and military encounters in the South China Sea.
Outbound Investment
The planned executive order on outbound investment focuses on deals in the semiconductor, quantum computing and artificial intelligence sectors. It would only prohibit certain transactions and not affect existing investments, but the curbs have sparked anger from Beijing, which views them as an effort to isolate and control China.
One likely deliverable from a Raimondo trip is a working group between her department and China’s commerce ministry to discuss US export controls aimed at preventing cutting-edge American technology from being used by China’s military, the people familiar with the planning said.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security uses the controls to limit Beijing’s access to computer chips that it worries can be used to threaten US national security and American foreign policy interests. China has countered that the controls prevent its companies from competing fairly.
Raimondo is also in charge of promoting US exports to one of its top trade partners and implementing a $52 billion semiconductor investment plan to make the US less dependent chips from Asia, particularly Taiwan.
“At a high level, we need to do business with China wherever we can,” Raimondo said at the event last week at the Wilson Center. “We need to promote wherever we can. But we need to protect where we must. I have a role to play in both of those.”
On the export promotion side, one top issue is Boeing Co.’s stalled delivery of its 737 Max planes to Chinese airlines. China barred deliveries following two deadly crashes in 2019. There are signs that could change, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said on an earnings call last week without elaborating.
“We’re getting a lot of good signs that they’ll resume delivery, but I’m not going to predict that for you,” he said.
