US launches new economic working groups with China in bid to quell tension

'It is vital that we talk, particularly when we disagree,' US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says [File: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters]

The United States has launched new economic and financial working groups with China, as the two major powers seek to deepen communication amid intensifying competition.

The US Department of Treasury said on Friday that the working groups would come under the direction of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng and would meet “at a regular cadence”.