[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/03/19/china.usa.flags.gi.art.jpg caption="CNN business correspondent Christine Romans examines the ever-complicated relationship between China and the United States of America."]

By Christine Romans, CNN

(CNN) – The Chinese are mad at the Americans, mild-manned economists are bashing each other, and the heat rises on the China-U.S. relationship.

That heat has risen every day, all week since Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s uncharacteristic tongue-lashing of the United States in his annual press availability last weekend.

He blasted the U.S., its president, and its policies and warned in very clear language that we don’t want to make China our enemy. It wouldn’t be good for either country.

He’s right about the last point, but what is less clear is the path out of this mess.

The Chinese are angry that the U.S. is selling arms to Taiwan, that the president met with the Dalai Lama and that U.S. officials have urged China to let its currency rise. An artificially low yuan makes anything “Made in China” cheaper than U.S.-made goods.

Two years into a crushing recession, the political winds are blowing in the direction of anything that will help American jobs. A bill this week introduced in the Senate would slap Chinese products with tariffs as retaliation for China keeping its currency artificially low.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell told PBS anchor and Bloomberg contributor Judy Woodruff that the U.S.-China relationship began strongly under this president and has deteriorated ever since. Usually, the conflict over Taiwan and the Dalai Lama is an exercise in diplomacy: the Chinese scream, we say we have our principles, and then everyone gets over it.

This time is different. Action against China in Congress is more likely than anytime in the last four years, the Google dispute adds a new wrinkle, and, as Powell described it, the Chinese are “more stiff” in their talks and diplomacy with the U.S. than they have been in recent years.

After this difficult and uncomfortable week for the world’s most important financial marriage, Reuters is reporting that the Chinese are now trying to cool down the rhetoric and are sending a special trade envoy to Washington later this month.

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