Countries to discuss plans for revival

WASHINGTON: With the global economy mired in recession, the United States and China begin talks Monday to seek a solution together despite tensions over currencies, the US budget deficit and the huge US trade gap with China.

Ultimately, how well the US efforts succeed could help determine how fast the economy recovers and how many US jobs might be created once it does.

Other issues such as climate control and North Korean nuclear ambitions also will command attention. Few expect the talks to bridge the sharp differences between Beijing and Washington. But both governments want to use the occasion to help build a less confrontational relationship.

Three years ago, Henry Paulson, then treasury secretary, used the talks to press Beijing to let its currency, the yuan, rise in value against the dollar, to make it cheaper for Chinese to buy US goods. US manufacturers blame an undervalued yuan for record US trade deficits with China ��� and, in part, for a decline in US jobs. The US efforts have yielded only mixed results.