China will reduce trade barriers, Trump says

China will reduce its trade barriers "because it is the right thing to do", the US president said.

In remarks made via Twitter on Sunday morning, Donald Trump said: "President Xi and I will always be friends, no matter what happens with our dispute on trade. China will take down its Trade Barriers because it is the right thing to do. Taxes will become Reciprocal & a deal will be made on Intellectual Property. Great future for both countries!"

The same day, in an interview with Fox News Sunday, the Director of the National Economic Council, Robert Kudlow, said: "we're not gonna end up in a trade war."

Separately, on CNN, Kudlow said "I think it's going to generate very positive results which will grow."

Nevertheless, he also said he would back resorting to tariffs if talks with Beijing failed.

Meanwhile, in remarks to NBC's Meet the Press, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Washington's threat of tariffs was not just a negotiating ploy.

Navarro also reminded his interviewer of the recent change in China's classification under the US national security strategy to 'strategic competitor'.

Rather, he said, "We're moving forward in a measured way."

According to Navarro, those talks would be headed-up by US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and the country's Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer.

Among those critical of the US administration's moves on the trade front, Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse told NBC: "Hopefully the president is just blowing off steam again, but if he's even half-serious, this is nuts [...] The president has no actual plan to win right now. He's threatening to light American agriculture on fire. [...] This is the dumbest possible way to do this."

On the other hand, over prior weeks Mohammed El-Erian and Martin Feldstein had argued that what mattered was not trade deficits but getting China to respect intellectual property rights, which in the longer term could bring about a better global trading system.

Nonetheless, to that UniCredit chief economist on Sunday Erik F.Nielsen responded: "I hope they are right, but I'm doubtful".