• U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner raised the subject of China’s currency in Beijing, encouraging officials there to move towards a more flexible exchange-rate regime. In Washington, the Treasury department appointed the aptly named economist (and blogger) David Dollar as economic emissary to China.
• Despite its U.S. bankruptcy, GM says that it remains profitable and upbeat about its prospects in China, where its sales hit a record high in the first five months of this year. The troubled automaker said it will need to build a new plant in China to keep up with demand.
• Seeking to repay some of the bailout funds it received from the U.S. government, Goldman Sachs (GS) sold a portion of its shares in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China for $1.9 billion. Goldman still owns a 4% stake in the Chinese lender, though most of its shares are not freely tradable yet.
• China’s Ministry of Commerce launched an investigation into U.S. steel dumping and industry subsidies, two months after U.S. steelmakers and the steelmakers union filed a suit alleging that China unfairly certain types of steel pipe onto the U.S. market.
• Archaeologists said that examples of pottery found in central China may be the most ancient known to science. The Chinese specimens date to 17,500 to 18,300 years ago, at least 500 years older than the next-oldest pottery find, from Japan.