A top Treasury Department official said he was incorrect in saying that the U.S. had ended formal economic dialogue with Beijing, adding that Secretary Steven Mnuchin continues to hold private discussions with China.
“I misspoke,” David Malpass, Treasury’s undersecretary for international affairs, told reporters in Buenos Aires on Sunday. “Secretary Mnuchin has high-level talks with China,” he said, reiterating that the department has “private” conversations with senior officials in China.
Treasury moved quickly to correct the record after Malpass’s initial speech. Tony Sayegh, head of Treasury’s public affairs department, tweeted a correction while on a military flight to Argentina with Mnuchin, saying that comprehensive talks with China have not been “discontinued.”