The US and China have reached deals on civil aviation and financial sector access but they made no headway on the divisive issue of Chinese currency reforms.
But US lawmakers said they would move ahead with proposals to slap tariffs on Chinese imports because of its reluctance to redress the huge trade imbalance between the countries with a revaluation of the yuan.
Their negative reaction overshadowed US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's claim of 'tangible results' in the second leg of a 'strategic economic dialogue' with Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi.
Wu, for her part, said the 'complicated' relations between the US and China needed careful handling.
The most concrete outcome of the talks was a deal committing China to remove a bar on new foreign securities firms and resume issuing licences for securities companies, including joint ventures, in the second half of 2007.
That was a coup for former Goldman Sachs chairman Paulson, who has made gaining greater access to the Chinese financial sector a key objective.
The two sides also agreed on a new aviation pact that US transportation officials said would more than double the number of passenger flights between the two countries by 2012.
Meanwhile, at a conference yesterday, former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan predicted a 'dramatic' drop in the Chinese stock market.
'It is clearly unsustainable,' Greenspan said. 'There is going to be a dramatic contraction at some point.'
