Feb. 22, 2007 (China Knowledge) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will visit China for the third time since joining the Bush administration in March, announced the Treasury Department on Wednesday.

Paulson’s visit will mainly seek to deal with the huge U.S. trade deficit with China. On March 7, Paulson will arrive in Beijing, where he will meet with government officials, before leaving for Shanghai the next day to deliver a speech on China’s capital markets.

During his last visit in mid-December last year, Paulson urged China to adopt a more flexible currency policy, which will encourage a quicker RMB appreciation and consequently a lower trade deficit between the U.S. and China.

The gap between what the U.S. sells abroad and what it imports rose to a record US$763.6 billion last year, up 6.5% from the previous record of $716.7 billion in 2005. For December, the deficit jumped a bigger-than-expected 5.3% to US$61.2 billion.