"Complicated issues" remain in trade talks between the United States and China, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday while rejecting a Wall Street Journal report that Huawei is the sticking point for trade negotiations between the two nations.
"Don't believe everything you read in the press," Mnuchin told CNBC's "Squawk Box," adding that later in the day, he and Ambassador Robert Lightheizer have a telephone call scheduled with their counterparts in China to discuss trade.
"This will be the second conversation we've had, there has been discussion at the staff level," said Mnuchin. "There has been conversation at the staff level. We’re working under the direction of President (Donald) Trump and President Xi (Jinping) from the meeting in Osaka and we’ll see where we get.”
If the call goes well, meetings are expected to take place in person, Mnuchin said.
Further, it is on the record that Huawei is not the sticking point, said Mnuchin.
He also rejected claims that he has urged technology firms to seek licenses allowing certain U.S. firms to sell materials to Huawei.
"In no way have I been encouraging companies to do one thing or another on this," said Mnuchin.
Meanwhile, the United States only wants to get into a good deal that will be a "great opportunity" for companies and workers in the United States.
"There is a huge growing market in China of middle-income people and we want to be able to compete fairly," said Mnuchin. "This has been a one-way street, as the president has said."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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