Kudlow says US still expects China for September trade talks

[WASHINGTON] President Donald Trump's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said the US still expects Chinese negotiators to come to Washington for another round of trade talks in September, even after the two nations escalated their trade war.

"The president and our team is planning for a Chinese visit in September," Mr Kudlow said Tuesday on CNBC. "We're willing to negotiate. Movement towards a good deal would be very positive and might change the tariff situation. But then again, it might not."

The Trump administration formally labeled China a currency manipulator late Monday in a tit-for-tat escalation of the dispute between the world's two largest economies. The US action followed China allowing its currency to weaken and ending purchases of American agricultural products, in response for new tariffs Mr Trump announced last week.

Economic tensions ratcheted upward after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer returned from meetings with counterparts in Shanghai last week without progress toward a deal to resolve American complaints about China's economic practices. Trump ordered 10 per cent tariffs on about US$300 billion in Chinese imports to begin Sept 1, barring a breakthrough in negotiations.

BLOOMBERG