(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Kelvin Chan / Associated Press
HONG KONG: U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday there was a good tone during his trip to Beijing to meet Chinese officials in advance of President Donald Trump's visit later this year amid growing trade frictions.
Ross spoke at a conference in Hong Kong, where he arrived after a stop in Beijing as part of a three-nation Asian tour. While in Beijing, he met with Premier Li Keqiang, the country's top economic official, to prepare for Trump's visit and a senior trade mission led by Ross expected in November.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump met when Xi visited the U.S in April.
"Hopefully the goodwill that's been built up between President Xi and President Trump will help to change the atmosphere," Ross said.
He said that in Beijing, "we were trying to get things organized for the president's visit in November and the tone, I felt, was pretty good. But there's a lot of miles and a lot of negotiations between now and November."
Ross said China had widened market access in some areas, like investment banking licenses, which he called "low-hanging fruit."
But, "now we're moving into harder things, bigger things, more serious things," he said, without being more specific.
Trump has slammed China's large trade surpluses with the United States and threatened to hike tariffs on steel. He has ordered an investigation into whether Beijing improperly pressures companies to hand over their technology in exchange for market access.
The Commerce Department said in a statement Monday that in his meeting with Li, Ross "reiterated the need for concrete deliverables."
The statement also said Ross "continued to stress the need for concrete action to address the concerns of U.S. businesses, and that the U.S. would take action to defend American workers and businesses if cooperative efforts bear no fruit."
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