President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that top US trade officials would soon travel to China as Washington and Beijing seek to resolve a trade dispute that has roiled markets and left exporters on edge.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and other officials will make the trip at Beijing's behest, the president told reporters.

"The Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, will be going to China in a few days to negotiate on trade," he said. "I think China is very serious; we're very serious."

"So we're going to have a delegation, at their request, go to China. They came here recently, and we're going there. And that'll be good."

He said the two sides had a "very good chance" of reaching an agreement.

Trump has authorized tariffs on about $50 billion in Chinese exports in response to China's alleged theft of American intellectual property.

Beijing has responded by immediately slapping duties on key US agricultural exports, in measures intended to target the American president's support base -- and could do likewise for the sensitive US soybean industry.

Trump accuses China of driving up a yawning, $337 billion trade deficit with the United States through unfair trade practices which he believes undermine the American industrial base and workforce.

But in remarks that helped calm markets, Xi recently vowed to open China, including its auto and financial sectors, to more foreign trade and investment.

And on Tuesday Trump described his relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping as "excellent."

"I believe the trade will work out but I also think China has never treated us with more respect than they have over the last short period of time that I'm president," Trump said.

Mnuchin told reporters over the weekend he was considering a trip, prompting Beijing to announce Sunday that China "welcomes" the move.

Senior Trump economic aide Peter Navarro, a trade hawk and fierce China critic, as well as National Economic Director Larry Kudlow, will travel with Mnuchin and Lighthizer for a trip which is likely to occur on May 3-4, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an anonymous source.

US Commerce Secretary calls China 2025 plan 'frightening'
Washington (AFP) April 24, 2018 - China's plan to transform itself into the global technology nexus is a "frightening" one that puts American intellectual property at risk, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday.

"It's a huge, huge problem," Ross told a gathering of fabric industry executives about the repeated theft of technology. "And it's not going away."

He said Beijing's development plan -- Made in China 2025 -- maps out the country's strategy to dominate "every hot industry" from space to telecommunications to robotics to electric cars.

"They have been the factory floor of the world, now their vision is to be the technology center for the world," Ross said.

"What they are really trying to do is take their immense trade surplus from the conventional industries of today...and plow them into semiconductor research and every kind of research you can imagine."

Washington last month threatened steep tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods, because of policies it says aim to steal technology, and also filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization.

That ratcheted up tensions between the two countries and they have exchanged increasingly severe tariff threats.

But US President Donald Trump on Tuesday confirmed that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would travel to Beijing in "a few days" at China's request.

Ross has previously called China's strategy a direct threat to the United States and Lighthizer said the imports targeted for tariffs were in the industries that are the focus of the 2025 plan.

Ross also warned the fabric industry representatives on Tuesday that China was even reviewing US patents and filing them in their home country to prevent the legitimate owners of the technology from selling their ideas in China.

He warned them to think about "protecting your own assets" as they try to export their products.

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IMF's Lagarde warns against harming trade, investment
Washington (AFP) April 19, 2018
With US-China frictions hanging over its annual meeting, the International Monetary Fund on Thursday warned governments to avoid harming trade and investment, which have been key drivers of the global economic recovery. IMF chief Christine Lagarde said escalating trade tensions could reverberate through the world economy, undermining confidence and choking off investment, urging the resolution of the disputes through dialogue. "Investment and trade are two key engines that are finally picking up ... read more