Yellen says her talks with Chinese finance chief laid groundwork for Biden's meeting with Xi

SAN FRANCISCO -- A meeting between U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng, is paving the way for the meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 2023 APEC Summit in San Francisco.

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Yellen and He met for a second day in a row in San Francisco Friday.

Yellen gave an update on how the meetings went during a press conference Friday. You can watch her full remarks in the video player above.

The Treasury Department says the meetings, ahead of the APEC summit, are designed to further stabilize the economic relationship with China and make progress on some key issues. Those include trade, investment and developing more resilient supply chains.
"When we have concerns about specific economic practices, such as those that prevent American firms and workers from competing on a level playing field, we will communicate them directly," Treasury Secretary Yellen told Vice Premier He Thursday.

She also said that the U.S. has no desire to decouple from China, saying a full separation of our economies would be economically disastrous for both countries and the world. But a group protested the meeting and upcoming APEC Thursday in San Francisco.

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This isn't the first time Yellen and He have met in person. They were last together in China in July.
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