The writer is a former US Treasury official and US chair of Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum

The tensions between US and China are palpable. Washington is filled with China hawks and talons will sharpen with the Trump 2.0 administration. Likewise, Beijing is hardening its posture against the US. Yet the economic and financial fates of the two nations, accounting for over 40 per cent of global GDP, are intertwined. Decoupling is nary impossible.

Currency feuds have long been a staple of US and China relations. They reached a feverish pitch in the US before the 2008-9 global financial crisis, when China was running a 10 per cent of GDP current account surplus and reserves soared on the back of heavy intervention and a persistently undervalued currency.