The United States and China have reached “stability” in their long-fractious relationship, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Asian power.
“I think we’ve reached a point at least of a sort of strategic stability in the relationship,” Rubio told reporters.
“I think both countries concluded that having an all-out global trade war between the United States and China would be deeply damaging to both sides and to the world,” Rubio said on a visit to the tiny Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
However, Rubio said that the United States would keep raising concerns, including seeking to diversify from China’s dominance in supply chains. He also vowed to keep pushing China to negotiate a three-way nuclear deal with the United States and Russia.
A senior U.S. official met with Russia and China in Geneva this week after the expiration of New START, the last remaining treaty between Russia and the United States that limited nuclear warheads.
“They have publicly said they’re not willing to do it,” Rubio said of China. “We’ll continue to press on it, because we think it would be good for the world if we could reach such an agreement,” he added.
Trump is set to travel to China from March 31 to April 2, in his first visit to the country of his second term.
