China, US keen to avoid trade war: US officialThe United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and China will work to keep their latest tit-for-tat tit-for-tat Adjective done in return or retaliation for a similar act: a spate of tit-for-tat killings [earlier tip for tap] trade spats spat 1 v. A past tense and a past participle of spit1. spat 2 n. pl. spat or spats 1. from escalating into an all-out war, a top US official said Tuesday, just days before a visit by President Barack Obama. Robert Hormats, the US Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, said "tensions, misunderstandings and frictions" were inevitable between major trade partners and could be resolved through talks. "We have trade disputes with a lot of countries with whom we have very close economic ties and they have trade disputes with us," Hormats said in a speech to university students in Beijing ahead of Obama's visit, which begins Sunday. "Many of these things can be negotiated out before they get to the WTO See World Trade Organization. stage. I think we will do and China will do everything we can to avoid a trade war." Tensions between the two countries intensified late last week when the United States slapped anti-dumping tariffs of up to 99 percent on imports of some Chinese steel products used in the oil industry. China branded the decision an "abuse of protectionism protectionism Policy of protecting domestic industries against foreign competition by means of tariffs, subsidies, import quotas, or other handicaps placed on imports. " and retaliated by launching its own probe into US car imports. The world's number one and three economies have traded a series of accusations of unfair trade practices since September when the Obama administration announced it would slap duties on Chinese-made tyres. Hormats said Obama would discuss the trade disputes as well as energy cooperation and climate change with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (h  ` jĭn`tou`), 1942–, Chinese political leader, b. Jixi, Anhui prov. A hydroelectric engineering graduate (1965) of Qinghua Univ. during his November 15-18 visit.
"Our two countries are perhaps the most important players (in the world) and to make it work, we have to work together," Hormats said. Obama had hoped to reach an agreement with Hu on global warming global warming, the gradual increase of the temperature of the earth's lower atmosphere as a result of the increase in greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution. so the two nations could go to key climate change talks in Copenhagen in December "with a green initiative", Hormats said, without elaborating. "The success of the Copenhagen summit will depend ... on China and the US and other countries taking action," Hormats said. 
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