US President Barack Obama has told Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao China must do more to revalue its yuan currency.
Their meeting, described as 'candid', took place last night on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
A US official said President Obama cited recent US complaints in the World Trade Organisation against allegedly unfair Chinese trade practices as evidence of his determination to act to protect American interests.
The meeting came amid increasing frustration in Washington over Chinese economic and trade policies, at a time of heightened political sensitivity ahead of mid-term elections.
Jeff Bader, Obama's top East Asia policy official, said the meeting lasted two hours, and was dominated by the economy, adding that Obama told Wen the foreign exchange row was the 'most important issue' they would discuss.
Obama raised with Wen the 'need for China to do more than it has done to date on the yuan,' said Bader, senior director for Asia on the National Security Council.
He told Wen that he welcomed China's announcement in June that it would follow a more flexible exchange rate policy, Bader said. But Obama said the US was disappointed that there had not been much movement since.
Bader would not be drawn on Wen's response, but did say that the Chinese premier 'reiterated the Chinese intention to proceed to continue with reform of their exchange rate mechanism'.
Wen said in a speech to the US-China Business Committee in New York on Wednesday that there was 'no basis' for a sharp rise in the yuan.
