US steers clear of yuan linked Saudi-China oil trade talks

The United States on Tuesday said it is not asking its allies and partners to choose between the US and China when negotiating trade deals.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Prices made these remarks on Tuesday while referring to the Saudi-Chinese talks on oil sales.

This follows reports that Saudi Arabia is negotiating with China to partially switch from dollars to yuan in oil sales amid souring relations between Riyadh and Washington.

"Our allies and partners around the world are going to have their own relationships with the PRC [People's Republic of China]," Price said during a press briefing on Tuesday.

"What we are not asking countries to do is to choose between the United States and China. When it comes to many of our partners, what we seek to do is to give them choices and to make partnership with the United States and all that we bring to the table, all that we could bring to a bilateral relationship," he added.

Media reports say Saudi Arabia is growing discontent with US foreign policy.

In particular, Riyadh is not pleased with the lack of support from Washington for the Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen. Reportedly, they are also not happy about the Biden administration's efforts to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran.

Reports suggest that the national oil company Saudi Aramco is also considering using yuan-denominated futures contracts, in its pricing model. However, this transition from petro-dollar to yuan is unlikely to happen, a senior US official told the Wall Street Journal.

The US official was quoted in the report describing the negotiation as "highly volatile and aggressive" and "not very likely."

The official further stated selling oil to China in yuan will likely stagger the Saudi economy and undermine the Saudi government's fiscal outlook.

( With inputs from ANI )