Mnuchin may visit China as trade tensions simmer

WASHINGTON, Apr 21 (Reuters): US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday he may travel to China, a move that could ease tensions between the world's two largest economies, as international policymakers acknowledged Beijing needs to change its trade practices.

The United States has threatened to impose tariffs on up to $150 billion of Chinese imports to try to force changes in Beijing's industrial policies, which Washington says are aimed at acquiring American intellectual property.

Mnuchin told reporters he was continuing to have discussions with his Chinese counterparts to try to resolve the differences over trade, but said he may go to Beijing.

"A trip is under consideration," Mnuchin said at a press conference during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington.

"I am not going to make any comment on timing, nor do I have anything confirmed, but a trip is under consideration."

Mnuchin also declined to say what he wants from a trade deal with China, adding, "If we have a deal, you'll know what it looks like when we have it."

China has threatened retaliation against U.S. exports if Washington pushes ahead with the tariffs. The row cast a pall over the semi-annual gathering of the world's finance officials, with IMF Managing Christine Lagarde warning earlier this week that it could damage confidence, investment and growth in the global economy.

Lagarde told a press conference on Saturday that there would be no winners from such a conflict.

"It is important that as a global community we keep trade open, we ensure that we work within the multilateral system that we have to make sure if there are disputes, these disputes are resolved," she said.

Mnuchin said he met with China's new central bank governor,

Yi Gang, during the IMF and World Bank meetings and discussed the potential for China to open its markets to more foreign competition.

Meanwhile, Europe will not choose sides in the trade dispute between the United States and China, a top European official said on Saturday, adding that the European Union's temporary exemptions from U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs should become permanent.

European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici said trade was one of the main issues discussed with U.S. officials on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings this week in Washington.

Moscovici told Reuters he had met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow.

"Trade wars are like all wars - they are destructive," he said in an interview. "We must find a soft landing in the debate that is ongoing. This means first finding a way between the U.S.

and the EU to ... move from a temporary exemption to a definitive exemption," he said. "We are discussing it actively in a quite constructive spirit with our American friends and I am hopeful that we will have this decision by the 1st of May," he said, referring to the date on which the temporary exemption for the EU expires.