The United States wants a "real, demonstrative commitment" from China that it is serious about shifting away from export-led economic growth, a U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday ahead of next week's state visit by China's Hu Jintao.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will on Wednesday lay out his vision for how the world's two biggest economic powers should interact. But the official's comments indicate some impatience with China's gradual approach to allowing its currency to rise and building up domestic demand.
Washington has pressed Beijing for years to allow the yuan to rise more rapidly to cool its exports, narrow a trade gap, and shrink a $2.8-trillion U.S. pile of reserves.
But China counters that U.S. economic policies are responsible for the imbalances and has urged the United States to get its own fiscal house in order before its mountain of debt destabilizes the global economy.
The Jan. 19 White House talks mark the first face-to-face meeting between President Barack Obama and Hu since the Group of 20 summit in Seoul in November, which was widely seen as a disappointment for Washington.
Not only did Obama get scant international support at the G20 meeting for pressuring China to speed up the yuan's rise, but he also got an earful from allies about his own country's economic policy. Topping the list of complaints was the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to buy $600 billion U.S. in government debt to try to spur a stronger economic recovery.
Geithner is the first of several top U.S. officials fanning out to preview Hu's visit and detail the White House's aims. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will give what an aide called a "major" address on U.S.-China relations on Friday.
