“Top U.S. economic officials, led by Treasury Secretary John Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, began talks with their Chinese counterparts Sunday on rancorous economic issues, including Beijing’s currency controls and its huge and growing trade surplus,” reports The Associated Press.

“The talks followed a meeting of financial leaders of the world’s leading economies that focused on coping with high oil prices and other risks to global growth.

“U.S. officials said they would press Beijing to move faster on easing controls on the yuan, which critics say is undervalued by as much as 40 percent, pushing exports higher and contributing to a bilateral trade imbalance that topped $162 billion last year.”