Mike Pompeo, secretary of state, has urged other US officials to avoid escalating the trade dispute with China to a level that could jeopardise the historic June 12 summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

Mr Pompeo, who is spearheading the North Korea talks, is worried that the chaotic approach the US team is taking towards the China trade issue could annoy Xi Jinping, the Chinese president who has more leverage over Kim Jong Un than any world leader.

Trump administration officials have spent recent months locked in tough debates about how to reach a deal with Beijing that would cut the US trade deficit and propel structural reform in China. But while those debates have largely been left to officials with a trade portfolio, Mr Pompeo has recently joined the fray, according to four people familiar with interventions that the new secretary of state has made.