By David Harrison, Katy Stech Ferek and Andrew Restuccia 

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration took steps over the weekend to allay fears of a spiraling trade war, suggesting it would give Huawei Technologies Co. more time to work with U.S. customers and confirming White House plans for a new round of talks.

Those moves, combined with last Tuesday's delay in tariffs on $156 billion of Chinese goods, suggest an effort by the White House to dial back hostilities following a week of market swings and position itself for the next chapter in the continuing talks. A 10% tariff on another $111 billion of imported goods will go into effect Sept. 1 as planned.

"The tariffs are working," White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on CBS. "They're an important part of the strategy to bring the Chinese to the negotiating table."

Commerce Department officials plan to announce Monday that they will grant a 90-day extension to the license that has allowed Huawei to continue doing some business within the U.S. despite national-security concerns that landed the Chinese telecom company on an export blacklist in May, according to an administration official.

U.S. officials have warned that Huawei products could be used to spy on or disrupt telecom networks. Huawei officials have denied the claims. The blacklisting escalated trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

White House economic adviser Lawrence Kudlow said Sunday the move was intended to protect Huawei's American customers from having to quickly change suppliers.

"It's a good-faith action helping American companies who need a couple more months to make adjustments," he said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "And this assumes, by the way, no national-security sensitivity, so that's not changing."

The ban initially raised questions about whether U.S. customers that use Huawei equipment could receive service and support or even communicate with the company.

Shortly after the blacklisting in May, Commerce officials announced a temporary license that authorized some transactions between Huawei and U.S. business partners, including rural wireless carriers in the U.S. that use its equipment. It also enabled Huawei to support its popular handsets.

That license is scheduled to expire on Monday.

Mr. Kudlow also said Sunday that American and Chinese trade negotiators will be holding one or more teleconference calls in the next week or two to set ground rules and discuss topics for new high-level trade talks.

Those discussions will set the stage for Chinese officials to visit Washington, D.C., to resume negotiations.

"The talks are continuing," he said. "Dialogue is a very good thing. How this turns out I don't know. It is up to the president to judge the progress or lack thereof."

White House officials described the delay last week on some of the items set to be hit with new tariffs as a way to protect American companies that had already locked in dollar contracts with Chinese suppliers ahead of the holiday season.

The reprieve will postpone until Dec. 15 tariffs of 10% on smartphones, laptops, videogames, toys and other products that had been scheduled to take effect on Sept. 1.

The U.S. has already imposed 25% tariffs on about $250 billion of Chinese imports, mostly items used by businesses.

The delay sent stocks higher on Tuesday before they tumbled on Wednesday. The major trade indexes bounced back Thursday and Friday to close the week with a modest loss.

Mr. Kudlow said the outcome of the talks will depend on factors beyond trade such as security and the resolution of ongoing protests in Hong Kong. Hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters marched again in Hong Kong over the weekend. Beijing's stance on the protests has toughened recently, demanding Hong Kong police to crack down.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Mr. Kudlow said the U.S. is "on the side of freedom."

"We don't want violence. The United States wants a humane ending. If that can happen that might bolster the trade deal," he said. "The Chinese know full well that trade, security, Hong Kong, these things are all part of the general landscape."

Write to David Harrison at david.harrison@wsj.com, Katy Stech Ferek at katherine.stech@wsj.com and Andrew Restuccia at Andrew.Restuccia@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 18, 2019 15:55 ET (19:55 GMT)