U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner will urge Asia’s two biggest economies to cut Iranian oil imports and seek to narrow differences with China on trade and currency disputes on a visit to Beijing and Tokyo this week. Geithner arrived in Beijing yesterday and met Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan. He will hold talks with Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice President Xi Jinping and Vice Premier Li Keqiang today. In Japan, he is due to meet with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Finance Minister Jun Azumi tomorrow. Wang, appearing with Geithner, said the two countries “have a lot of issues to talk about in the areas of economy, finance, trade and investment.” Geithner will probably encounter resistance in China, which disagrees with U.S. assertions that its currency is undervalued and is sparring with the Obama administration over trade in goods from chicken to steel. At the same time, he may seek to avert a public split at a time when a likely European slide to recession is already clouding the global economic outlook.
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