The US negotiator in charge of trade talks with China said Sunday he considers March 1 to be a "hard deadline" for reaching an agreement that would avert an intensifying trade war.

"As far as I'm concerned it's a hard deadline," US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"When I talk to the president of the United States, he's not talking about going beyond March 1, he's talking about getting a deal if there is a deal to be gotten in the next 90 days."

Lighthizer also said that he did not expect the arrest in Canada of a top Chinese executive, Meng Wanzhou of telecom giant Huawei, to interfere with the trade talks.

"It shouldn't really have much of an impact," he said. "I can understand from the Chinese perspective how they would see it that way. That is a criminal justice matter. It is totally separate from anything that I work on."

- Clarity on deadline -

China has strongly protested the arrest and the US demand that Meng be extradited over allegations that Huawei has violated US sanctions against Iran.

The arrest shook investors and rattled the markets amid fears it could reignite US-Chinese trade tensions just as a new truce had been declared.

Since taking office, Trump has waged an often-fierce offensive against Chinese trade practices, which he regularly brands as "unfair."

He has particularly denounced the forced transfer of technology to China by foreign firms seeking to do business there, as well as the country's weak protections of intellectual property rights.

At the end of a dinner in Buenos Aires on the margins of the recent G20 summit there, Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping said they had agreed to put on hold the months-long trade war that has resulted in billions of dollars in tariffs being imposed on imported goods.

Washington gave Beijing a deadline of March 1 to achieve concrete results and suspend the imposition of 25 percent customs tariffs -- rather than the current 10 percent -- on $200 billion in imported Chinese products.

In exchange, the Chinese agreed, somewhat vaguely, to purchase more American products and to work to reduce the enormous trade gap (around $335 billion in China's favor) that so irritates the US president.

It was Lighthizer, a veteran of complex trade negotiations and a hawk on trade issues with China, who was tabbed to lead the American team in the talks.

His remarks Sunday appeared to bring clarity after mixed signals from the administration, including a suggestion from Trump about possibly extending the truce.

"The negotiations with China have already started," Trump said in a Twitter message Tuesday. "Unless extended, they will end 90 days from the date of our wonderful and very warm dinner with President Xi in Argentina."

Trump says China trade talks 'going very well'
Washington (AFP) Dec 7, 2018 - US President Donald Trump said Friday negotiations to defuse the high stakes trade conflict with China are "going very well."

Trump met China's leader Xi Jinping at the weekend and agreed to a 90-day tariff truce in order to find a more permanent solution to the costly dispute, but messages since have been mixed, roiling global stock markets

"China talks are going very well!" Trump tweeted.

Washington and Beijing have exchanged steep tariffs on more than $300 billion in total two-way trade, locking them in a conflict that has begun to eat into profits.

Traders were initially buoyed by the apparent deal agreed at the G20 meeting in Buenos Aires but questions were quickly raised about the details -- and whether the world's top two economies could actually resolve their differences.

That was compounded by news that a top executive at Chinese telecoms giant Huawei had been arrested in Canada and faces extradition to the US over allegations the firm had broken sanctions linked to Iran.

The arrest of Meng Wanzhou fuelled concerns about already fraught relations between Washington and Beijing and the future of the trade talks.

China on Thursday appeared to try to ease concerns by saying it would "immediately" implement measures agreed under the truce.

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China vows quick trade moves, Trump upbeat
Beijing (AFP) Dec 5, 2018
China vowed Wednesday to move swiftly to strike a trade consensus with the United States - to the apparent relief of US President Donald Trump after a day of mixed signals that sent global markets into a swoon. "Very strong signals being sent by China once they returned home from their long trip, including stops, from Argentina," Trump tweeted. The Chinese commerce ministry said negotiators will "actively push forward negotiations within 90 days in accordance with a clear timetable and roadmap" ... read more