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Xi’s Top Economic Aide Is Said to Plan U.S. Trip Amid Trade Row

Liu He’s new mandate comes amid mounting trade tensions between the governments in Beijing and Washington.

Xi’s Top Economic Aide Is Said to Plan U.S. Trip Amid Trade Row
Shipping containers sit stacked among gantry cranes in this aerial photograph. (Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser Liu He will head to the U.S. next week in a sign of an expanded role managing the mounting trade tensions between the governments in Beijing and Washington, said a person familiar with the matter.

As President Donald Trump considers harsh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from China, Liu’s visit could mean yet another mandate for the Harvard-educated adviser whose understanding of the U.S. and ties to local business leaders could help ease friction between the governments.

Xi’s Top Economic Aide Is Said to Plan U.S. Trip Amid Trade Row

Expected to be appointed vice premier in charge of financial policy by the National People’s Congress next month, Liu, 66, also has been named by analysts as a possible candidate to head China’s central bank.

Liu is scheduled to arrive in Washington on Tuesday, said the person who asked not to be identified because the trip hasn’t been announced. He will be the second member of the powerful 25-member Politburo to travel to the U.S. this month.

China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi visited earlier in February, an indication of how much attention China is giving to ties with the U.S. as the rhetoric out of Washington becomes more pointed.

Rival Powers

Earlier this month, China’s ambassador to Washington warned the Trump administration against adopting a confrontational approach toward China. In December, Trump called Russia and China “rival powers” when he unveiled his first national security strategy.

Liu’s U.S. visit, which was reported earlier by Axios, will come a day after a planned meeting of the Communist Party’s Central Committee starts in Beijing, and before legislators gather early next month to approve new government leaders.

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the trip. Phone calls to its Ministry of Commerce outside working hours went unanswered.

Trump has told confidantes that he wants to impose the harshest tariffs on steel and aluminum imports recommended by the Commerce Department, according to three people familiar with the matter.

After the Trump administration last year began a probe into China’s aluminum and steel sales and its intellectual property practices, China responded by launching an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation against U.S. shipments of sorghum, a substitute for corn.

--With assistance from Keith Zhai

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Zhang Dingmin in Beijing at dzhang14@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stanley James at sjames8@bloomberg.net, Jason Koutsoukis, Steve Geimann

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.

With assistance from Zhang Dingmin