Trade war: China pledges to open market, to 'buy semicounductors' from US

Alarm over a possible trade war between the world's two largest economies has chilled financial markets

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday his country and the United States should maintain negotiations and he reiterated pledges to ease access for American businesses.

Li told a conference 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 autos, 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