Illustration: Tang Tengfei/GT

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is weighing a trip to China in the coming months, though the plan is still in the early stages of discussion at the US Treasury Department, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter. But Lily Adams, a spokesperson for the agency, said later that "there are no plans for Secretary Yellen to travel to China in the fall." 

While it remains to be seen whether such a trip will eventually take place, the signal from Washington was clear that US officials want to pursue dialogue with their Chinese counterparts, despite ever-escalating tensions between the world's two biggest economies. 

If materalizes, the trip would be Yellen's first to China as the US Treasury Secretary and a major step up for trade consultations between the two countries. Over the past few months, senior Chinese and US officials held several rounds of talks over the phone. On May 27, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He held a phone call with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai. On June 2, Liu held a virtual meeting with Yellen. On June 10, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao spoke with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo over the phone.

However, the talks have so far not been able to stop the Biden administration from keeping in place the toxic trade policies implemented by the Trump administration. The Biden administration is seven months into an extensive review of the country's trade policies toward China, but has not made any decision or adjustment to many pressing issues, including the US' tariffs on more than $300 billion worth of Chinese imports. Despite mounting pressure from US businesses, including an appeal from more than 30 business groups last week, the Biden administration has so far failed to take any step to remove the tariffs.

Moreover, the US government has stepped up its crackdown on Chinese technology companies. In early June, Biden signed an executive order to expand restrictions on US investments in 59 Chinese companies, which have been accused without any evidence by the US of having ties to the Chinese military. The US has also piled pressure on Xinjiang-related trade issues by putting several Xinjiang solar panel producers on an Entity List over fabricated "forced labor" allegations.

These actions have only added more tensions to the already deteriorating China-US economic and trade relationship and posed serious hurdles for both sides to resolve trade disputes that continue to hurt businesses on both sides.

Consultations would be helpful in addressing those disputes. However, for talks to be constructive and effective, the US must demonstrate its good faith in ending its ill-advised trade policies toward China, stop its crackdowns on Chinese businesses and pursue consultations based on mutual respect and equality. Such actions are also necessary to create a favorable environment, if Yellen were to visit China and hold talks with Chinese officials. 

For years now, some politicians in Washington have been advocating decoupling from China. However, growing bilateral trade against geopolitical headwinds shows that the laws of economics are stronger than effect of political will. In the first seven months of 2021, China's trade with the US surged by 40 percent year-on-year to $404.6 billion and the US remains China's third largest trading partner.

It's time for Washington to fully recognize that and pursue a more constructive approach toward China rather than its current toxic and cynical approach.