Top US and Chinese officials began a two-day gathering Monday in Washington, focusing primarily on the state of the global economy and confronting climate change.

Top of the US list of concerns is pushing China to speed the restructuring of its economy spur its own consumer spending and move away from over reliance on export earnings. Lovinger said there was 'notable agreement that the world has changed'.

'If China's gonna grow, it's not gonna be able to grow by exporting to the United States and as far as we can tell to the rest of the world,' he said. 'China's gonna have to promote more home-grown, consumption led growth.'