US Treasury secretary seeks 'more balanced' relations with

Newly-installed US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke today with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang and other officials, and called for "more balanced" economic relations" with Beijing.

Mnuchin also spoke to People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, Finance Minister Xiao Je and Economic Affairs Minister Liu He, Treasury said in a statement.

In each of these calls, Mnuchin "underscored that he looked forward to fostering strong US-China engagement during his tenure" and he "emphasized the importance of achieving a more balanced bilateral economic relationship going forward." During his election campaign, President Donald Trump accused China of unfair trading practices and manipulating its currency. Once at the White House, he threatened to take retaliatory measures, including imposing a hefty import tax on Chinese goods.

President Xi Jinping implicitly criticized the protectionist tendencies of the new US president at the economic forum in Davos.

In his calls, Mnuchin stressed the importance of cooperation between Washington and Beijing in international forums.

"He noted that demonstrated leadership by our two countries on critical issues will not only be beneficial to each country but also to the global economy," the statement said.

He said he was committed to working with China "on a comprehensive set of economic, financial, trade and investment, and illicit finance issues."

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)