Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao will travel to the United States next week to hold talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Trade Representative Catherine Tai, according to the Chinese embassy in Washington.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the embassy, ​​said on Thursday that Wang Yi would address “issues of respective concern” in the economic and trade relations between the two countries in talks with U.S. officials. He will also attend the APEC trade ministers’ meeting during his visit.

In recent years, senior U.S. and Chinese business officials have rarely met. king Last say to Raimondo in 2021 During the introductory call, he talk to ty During last year’s APEC meeting.

Tensions between the two superpowers have escalated under the Biden and Trump administrations, with ties in recent months sparked by 200ft tall Chinese airshipwhich the U.S. calls spy balloons designed for eavesdropping.

Still, the U.S. and China remain important trading partners. According to the embassy, ​​the bilateral trade volume in 2022 will hit a record high of nearly 760 billion U.S. dollars.

“This fully demonstrates the strong complementarity between the two countries and the resilience of economic and trade relations,” Liu said. “This bilateral relationship cannot simply be defined by ‘competition’.”

Representatives for Raimondo and Tai did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NBC News reported last month that communication break Relations between Washington and Beijing have increased the risk of an unexpected crisis or conflict between the two countries.