Donald Trump\u2019s top pick as his US trade representative \u2013 a veteran supporter of \u201cget tough on \u00adChina\u201d trade talks \u2013 will cast a \u00adfurther shadow over bilateral trade and investment ties, \u00adaccording to senior Chinese government advisers. Robert Lighthizer, a trade lawyer who served as deputy US trade representative under president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, is tipped to head Trump\u2019s top trade-negotiating agency. Analysts said Lighthizer\u2019s expected nomination was just another example of Trump packing his economic team with conservative veterans of US steel interests and vocal critics of China\u2019s trade barriers such as export subsidies and market access restrictions. Trump\u2019s trade team, including his nominee for commerce secretary, billionaire investor \u00adWilbur Ross, and Peter Navarro, director of the newly established National Trade Council, would inevitably make economic and trade ties between China and the US more difficult, according to former vice-commerce minister Wei Jianguo. Wei, now a deputy director of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, said the nomination of Lighthizer, one of Trump\u2019s top trade advisers and a supporter of the president-elect\u2019s tough approach to trade with \u00adChina since at least 2011, was not surprising. \u201cI am not optimistic about bilateral trade relations under Trump as we look set to see more disagreements and frictions on various import and export sectors, which is definitely not good news for China-US ties,\u201d he said. \u201cBut considering the increasingly intertwined trade ties between Beijing and Washington in recent years, I don\u2019t think we are going to see the possibility of a full-fledged trade war between the world\u2019s top two economies.\u201d Wang Huiyao, president of the Centre for China and Globalisation and an adviser to the State Council, said that while Beijing should be prepared for trade disputes under Trump, it was too early to say if he would translate his aggressive anti-free trade campaign rhetoric into policy. \u201cTrump is a businessman and I think he is just talking tough to get better deals vis-\u00e0-vis China,\u201d Wang said. Trade had been a central issue throughout Trump\u2019s election campaign. \u201cHe has to talk tough on trade to China partly because that\u2019s how he got elected,\u201d Wang said. Analysts also noted Trump and many of his trade advisers, such as Navarro and Dan DiMicco, former chief executive of North Carolina-based steelmaker Nucor, vigorously opposed the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership pact and promised to levy hefty tariffs on Chinese imports. Trump criticised China on Twitter on Monday for \u201ctaking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the US in totally one-sided trade\u201d while refusing to rein in nuclear-armed North Korea. \u201cWe should take Trump\u2019s tough talk seriously but not literally. I\u2019d rather think he intends to test Beijing\u2019s bottom line instead of provoking China,\u201d Wei said. Under Trump, the US trade representative \u2013 who traditionally has had authority over trade negotiations \u2013 will not serve as the main architect of US trade policy, according to Reuters. Instead, the commerce secretary and Navarro\u2019s new office are expected to play more important roles in setting the trade agenda.<\/p>\n