Investing.com – Asian stocks rose in morning trade on Friday after White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow confirmed that official of China and the U.S. will meet later in August to resume trade talks.
In an interview with CNBC, Kudlow added that China should be aware that U.S. President Donald Trump is determined the administration gets a good deal at the first major meeting between the two countries in more than two months.
"The Chinese government, in its totality, must not underestimate President Trump's toughness and willingness to continue this battle to eliminate tariffs and nontariff barriers and quotas, to stop the theft of intellectual property and to stop the forced transfer of technology," Kudlow said. "Those are the asks that we've been making now for quite some time."
His comments came after Trump urged China to offer more at the bargaining table.
“We’re talking to China, they very much want to talk,” Trump said Thursday at a cabinet meeting at the White House. “They just are not able to give us an agreement that is acceptable, so we’re not going to do any deal until we get one that’s fair to our country."
In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component were both up 0.2% by 9:45PM ET (01:45 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.4%.
China’s Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday that the country will roll out new incentives to support private investment and business.
At a State Council executive meeting, Li said obstacles to private investment in fields such as health care and care for the elderly will be reduced or removed, and the government will seek to cut restrictions on land use, funding support and personnel training in these areas.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.5%, and South Korea’s KOSPI edged up 0.2%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.1% higher in morning trade.