Beijing – The American senator Steve Daines, a firm defender of President Donald Trump, met with Chinese vice president He Lifeng, with warm exchanges against journalists on Saturday even when tensions between their countries shot on commercial tariffs and the management of Illegal fentanyl trade.
Daines, the first member of Congress To visit Beijing Since Trump took office in January, he will meet with Chinese prime minister Li qiang On Sunday and official number 2 of the nation they will give China’s policies, according to He.
Daines, who previously worked for American Consumer Goods Company Procter AND Gamble at the Economic Center of South China in Guangzhou, said that this trip marked his sixth visit to China and that he had met Li in 2018 when he served as Secretary of the Shanghai party.
He said that this visit comes at a time when there are some important issues to discuss between China and the United States.
“I have always believed to have a constructive dialogue and that has been the nature of all my visits to China during many years,” he said.
Before the trip that began on Thursday, his office said he is closely coordinating with the White House and that “President Trump’s first agenda of America will take.” Daines served as an intermediary during the first Trump administration, when tariffs were also an important problem.
Daines, a Montana senator, said in X earlier this week that he would talk to Chinese officials about the production and distribution of fentanyl and “the need to reduce the commercial deficit and guarantee the fair access of the market for our farmers, farmers and producers of Montana.”
Only a few months after Trump’s second term, tensions between the two largest economies in the world have increased after the United States imposed 20% of duties About Chinese products and generated retaliation rates of 15% in US agricultural products from China. In addition, the United States accuses China of doing very little to stop the export of precursor materials for fentanil, a very powerful opium blame for tens of thousands of deaths in the United States.
In response, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, earlier this month, accused Washington from “Know good with evil” And he said that China will continue to retaliate for the “arbitrary tariffs” of the United States.
Beijing also responded with A report Detailing their efforts to control the illegal fentanyl trade, specifically the ingredients for opioids that are carried out in China.
The report says that China and the United States have held multiple high -level meetings since the beginning of last year to promote cooperation, and that its narcotics control office celebrates regular exchanges with the United States drug control agency.
China is committed to cooperation, the report said, “but it firmly opposes the imposition of illegal sanctions and unreasonable pressure on the pretext of responding to fentanyl -related problems.”
Daines arrived in Beijing on Thursday and exchanged points of view with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Chinese Ma Zhaoxu about bilateral relations and the problems of mutual concern on the second day. His trip to the Chinese capital followed a visit to Vietnam, where he met the best leaders.
