Want to open China, not change its economic system: US trade chief

US President Donald Trump's chief trade negotiator said on Tuesday he was not looking to negotiate changes to China's state-driven economic system in trade talks in Beijing this week but would seek to expose it to more foreign competition.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told the US Chamber of Commerce he viewed the talks with top Chinese officials on Thursday and Friday as the start of a long learning process for Washington and Beijing to better manage their trade differences.

"It is not my objective to change the Chinese system," Lighthizer said. "It seems to work for them. ... But I have to be in a position where the United States can deal with it, where the United States isn't the victim of it and that's where our role is."

Lighthizer will be part of a Trump administration delegation that includes US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, White House trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro and new White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow.

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Ross said earlier on Tuesday that Trump was prepared to levy tariffs on China if the delegation did not reach a negotiated settlement to reduce trade imbalances.