The comments by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer came after Beijing and Washington fought fiercely throughout the year over tariffs.
“It’s really important to acknowledge that President Trump is very focused on having a constructive relationship with China,” Greer told an event hosted by the Atlantic Council on Wednesday.
Bilateral tensions have been temporarily de-escalated following Trump's and Chinese President Xi Jinping's meeting in South Korea in late October. As the US president is slated to have a state visit to China in April and the two leaders will meet a total of four times next year, bilateral trade flows have resumed quickly.
Greer said that despite the US having a lot of leverage over China, “the president’s interest is not in blowing up everything, right? And that includes our relationship with China”.
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