U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo sat down together with her Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao in Washington D.C. on Thursday to discuss “concerns” surrounding bilateral trade.

Marking the primary cabinet-level change between the 2 nations in months, the U.S. talked about American firms working in China.

According to a readout by the Commerce Department, “The two had candid and substantive discussions on issues relating to the U.S.-China commercial relationship, including the overall environment in both countries for trade and investment and areas for potential cooperation.”

Raimondo additionally “raised concerns about the recent spate of PRC [People’s Republic of China] actions taken against U.S. companies operating in the PRC,” it stated.

The bilateral change between Raimondo and Wang comes as market observers maintain an in depth eye on whether or not the U.S. will curb American investments into China, as relations between the world’s largest economies bitter.

The Group of Seven leaders met Hiroshima over the weekend, and vowed to “de-risk and diversify” from Chinese reliance, including that a few of Beijing’s practices “distort the global economy.”

The high-level talks come as China reportedly conducted inspections on U.S. audit firms within the mainland over nationwide safety breaches.

Earlier this week, China announced it will ban some purchases of merchandise from U.S. reminiscence chipmaker Micron — barring operators of “critical information infrastructure” in China after a safety overview performed by the Cyberspace Administration of China.

In response, the U.S. Commerce Department’s spokesperson stated, “We firmly oppose restrictions that have no basis in fact.” He stated the division will have interaction with the Chinese authorities to “detail” its place and search readability.

In the discharge revealed by China’s Ministry of Commerce after his assembly with Raimondo, Wang additionally raised concerns over U.S. insurance policies on semiconductors and export controls.

“The two sides agreed to establish communication channels to maintain and strengthen exchanges on specific economic and trade concerns and cooperation matters,” it stated.

Wang is predicted to meet U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai throughout his go to to the U.S. the place he’s set to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers’ assembly.