The US Treasury Department’s undersecretary for international affairs David Malpass surprised and confused audiences on Sunday after saying at a conference in Buenos Aires that trade discussions between the US and China had ceased, reports Bloomberg.
A few hours later, however, Malpass told reporters that he had “misspoke”, that “Secretary Mnuchin has high-level talks with China”, and that the Treasury Department continues to have “private” conversations with senior officials in China.
Malpass was referring to the US-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, a conduit that allows for formal communication between the nation’s finance chiefs, set up by former secretary Hank Paulson during the George W. Bush administration.
Despite having said in previous months that the US was “disappointed” with China’s apparent movement away from market liberalisation, Malpass assured during his retraction that the Treasury had not changed its strategy on China.