Premier Li Keqiang says China and the United States should maintain negotiations and he reiterated pledges to ease access for American businesses, as China scrambles to avert a trade war.
Li told a conference on Monday that included global chief executives that China would treat foreign and domestic firms equally, would not force foreign firms to transfer technology and would strengthen intellectual property rights, repeating promises that have failed to placate Washington.
The United States asked China in a letter last week to cut a tariff on US vehicles, buy more US-made semiconductors and give US firms greater access to the Chinese financial sector, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing unidentified sources.
Alarm over a possible trade war between the world's two largest economies has chilled financial markets as investors anticipated dire consequences should trade barriers go up due to President Donald Trump's bid to cut the US deficit with China.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer listed steps they want China to take in a letter to Liu He, a newly appointed vice premier who oversees China's economy, the Journal said, quoting sources with knowledge of the matter.
The newspaper reported that Mnuchin was considering a visit to Beijing to pursue negotiations.
Despite a steady stream of fierce rhetoric from Chinese state media lambasting the United States for being a "bully" and warning of retaliation, Chinese and US officials are busy negotiating behind the scenes.
"With regard to trade imbalances, China and the United States should adopt a pragmatic and rational attitude, promote balancing through expansion of trade, and stick to negotiations to resolve differences and friction," Li told the conference in Beijing, state radio reported.
China has offered to buy more US semiconductors by diverting some purchases from South Korea and Taiwan, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the negotiations. China imported $US2.6 billion of semiconductors from the United States last year.
Chinese officials are also working to finalise rules by May - instead of the end of June - to allow foreign financial groups to take majority stakes in Chinese securities firms, the Financial Times said.
Fears of a trade war mounted this month after Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, and then on Thursday specifically targeted China by announcing plans for tariffs on up to $US60 billion of Chinese goods.
On Friday, China responded to the US tariffs on steel and aluminium by declaring plans to levy additional duties on up to $US3 billion of US imports. The list of targeted goods contained no mention of soybeans or aircraft, China's two biggest US import items.
On Saturday, Liu told Mnuchin in a telephone call the US inquiry violated international trade rules and China would defend its interests, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The Trump administration has demanded that China immediately cut its $US375 billion trade surplus with the United States by $US100 billion.
Privately, Liu and Mnuchin exchanged letters in the past week on further opening China's financial services sector and cutting Chinese tariffs on imported cars, according to the Financial Times.
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