French minister calls US, China to refrain trade war to maintain global growth

The United States and China must avoid escalating trade tensions in their current negotiations to keep global growth on track, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday. "We want the negotiations to stick to the principals of transparency and multilateralism," Le Maire said as he arrived for a conference at the French finance ministry.

"I really urge everybody to avoid decisions that would threaten and jeopardise world growth in the coming months," he added. China's commerce ministry had also said on Tuesday that Vice Premier Liu He would visit the United States on May 9 and May 10 for bilateral trade talks at the invitation of senior U.S. officials.