White House trade advisor vows 'tough' talks with China

President Donald Trump's trade negotiators will hold "tough" talks with China, a senior White House advisor said Thursday, while cautioning against watching day-to-day reports on the negotiations.

The whole world is watching the trade talks between Washington and Beijing, hoping the 90-day tariff truce will hold and the sides can end a dispute that could disrupt the global economy.

"From our point of view, what we must do is hold fast, stay tough, and focus on a prize," US trade advisor Peter Navarro said on the Fox Business television network.

"The prize for this country and for the world and for China really is complete structural reform to put an end to all these practices which are disrupting the global economy."

Navarro, an anti-China firebrand, said the key will be to "trust but verify."

The talks began after Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Buenos Aires on December 1.

In followed-up talks by phone on Monday, Beijing pledged to lower punitive tariffs on US auto imports, resume purchases of American soybeans, and reform its 10-year economic program to allow more US investment, according to reports.

Financial markets have alternatively recovered and slumped on each new hint of progress or increased tensions between the world's largest economies.

Navarro said his advice to investors was "don't get hung up now in the day-to-day news about what China is saying it's going to do."

"I would just focus on March 1st, when we'll have a complete offer from China that will be negotiated behind closed doors, not on the front page of The Wall Street Journal."

He said the US wants China to buy more from the United States, but "much more importantly are the structural issues" including forced transfer and theft of American technology, "cyber intrusions," and "state directed investment."

The two sides have exchange punitive tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in trade, and prior to the ceasefire Washington had been poised to more than double the rate on $200 billion in Chinese goods starting January 1.

China says would welcome US team for trade talks
Beijing (AFP) Dec 13, 2018 - China said on Thursday that it would welcome US negotiators to visit the country for talks as both sides focus on a solution to thorny trade issues despite increasing obstacles.

The world's top two economic giants are at loggerheads over trade, cyber espionage and the recent arrest in Canada of a top Chinese executive wanted in the United States.

"At present both governments are in close contact, China welcomes the US to China for negotiations, and has an open attitude to travelling to the US for talks," commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters.

US President Donald Trump met with his counterpart President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires on December 1 and agreed to a 90-day truce while they tried to find a solution to the escalating trade dispute.

But they provided differing accounts of the scope of their agreement.

Washington has said China agreed to cut tariffs on autos imported from the United States, and resume "massive" purchases of soybeans and other products.

Gao repeated Thursday that the two sides had reached a consensus on those issues but declined to elaborate on the details.

"The Chinese and American teams are in close contact on details of the negotiations and are making smooth progress," Gao said.

An increasing number of security issues does not appear to have weighed down trade talks so far.

Two Canadians were detained in China on Monday in what many experts say was retaliation for Canada's arrest at Washington's request of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also accused China of being behind a massive hack of data from hotel giant Marriott on Wednesday.

Washington is expected this week to unveil new charges against Chinese military and intelligence hackers as it seeks to counter what is seen as a broad-based, sustained cyber threat against US government and corporate targets from Beijing.

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