China's commerce minister, U.S. commerce secretary talk over phone

China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao on Thursday held a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

[File photo: Visual People]

The two ministers said dialogue and exchanges in the business field between China and the United States are very important and agreed to promote the "healthy" development of trade and investment cooperation and "properly" handle differences.

They also agreed to continue to maintain communications.

Wang and Raimondo have been in contact frequently since May. Their latest conversation came about a week after Chinese Vice Premier Liu He spoke with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a virtual call on June 2. Liu earlier had a phone conversation with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on May 27.

From January to May this year, the trade volume between China and the U.S. reached $279.64 billion, a year-on-year increase of 52.3 percent.