Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with US business, academic and civic leaders on Thursday in New York, urging them to use their influence to help improve troubled relations between the two economic giants.
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Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly at a private meeting, Li said bilateral ties needed to be actively fostered.
Their “steady development requires our two governments to work in the same direction,” said Li, addressing representatives from the National Committee on US-China Relations and the US-China Business Council. “These are all very important organisations that serve as a bond between the two countries.”
Those bonds have frayed noticeably, however, since the start of US President Donald Trump’s second term in January. Within weeks, a tit-for-tat trade war saw his administration impose tariffs as high as 145 per cent on all Chinese imports before a temporary truce wound those down to around 30 per cent pending a November 10 US-imposed deadline.
Adding to the list of bilateral irritants, Washington also imposed restrictions on Chinese investments into the US, announced restrictions on Chinese student visas and imposed additional trade penalties on China over its manufacture of ingredients used in making illegal and highly addictive fentanyl.
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