White House trade advisor vows ‘tough’ talks with China

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s trade negotiators will hold ‘tough’ talks with China, a senior White House advisor said, while cautioning against watching day-today 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 alternativelyrecoveredandslumped on each new hint of progress or increased tensions between the world’s largest economies. — AFP