China’s top trade negotiator to visit US

China’s top trade negotiator will travel to the United States for talks later this month ahead of a March deadline to avoid bruising tariff hikes, the commerce ministry said yesterday. Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington on January 30-31 for the negotiations, the ministry said, following up on talks between lower-level officials in Beijing earlier this month.

President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to a three-month trade war truce in December, suspending US plans to increase tariffs on Chinese goods to give negotiators space to find a solution. Liu and US officials will “hold negotiations on economic and trade issues and work together to push forward and implement the important consensus” reached by Xi and Trump, ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters.

But Liu’s trip could run into complications after a Wednesday report said US authorities were in the advanced stages of a criminal probe that could result in an indictment of Chinese telecom giant Huawei. Citing anonymous sources, the Wall Street Journal said the Department of Justice was looking into allegations of theft of trade secrets from Huawei’s US business partners, including a T-Mobile robotic device used to test smartphones.

US lawmakers also introduced a bill to ban the export of American parts and components to Chinese telecom companies who are in violation of US export control or sanctions laws -- with Huawei and fellow Chinese firm ZTE the likely targets.