Washington has conveyed to Beijing its concern that China's planned cybersecurity regulations would be a major hindrance to trade between the two nations.

Under the proposed new rules, sellers of technology to Chinese lenders are mandated to turn over the secret source code they use and shift to encryption algorithms used in China.

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Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert Holleyman said that provision goes against the Asian giant's aim to open its economy and market to the outside world, reports Reuters.

But he said that there are ongoing efforts between the American government and their Chinese counterparts, at the cabinet and top level, to place on hold those regulations.

He said, "They have to look at their underlying needs but ensure that when those are addressed (they) are not contrary to the type of trade commitments and liberalization of their market that they also want to achieve."

Hollyman added that Washington isn't elevating yet the matter to the World Trade Organization. However, the trade representative said that Beijing must take into account China's international commitment, including a plan to enter into an investment treaty with the U.S.

In the past, Holleyman, as the chief of BSA The Software Alliance, together with other American business organizations, have informed Beijing of their complaint about the regulations and asked Washington to back up its position.

He believes the proposed mechanism is a trade barrier.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama and Apple CEO Tim Cook are among the scheduled speaker on Friday at a cybersecurity conference at Stanford University in California.

According to the White House, which created an intelligence unit to coordinate analysis of cyber-threats, the president is seeking support from tech giants to have better protection against those types of threats and share information as well, BBC reports.

But other than Cook, other CEOs of tech giants in the U.S. such as Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Marissa Meyer of Yahoo and Larry Page and Eric Schmidt of Google turned down invitations to take part in the cyber summit, said Bloomberg.

TagsCyber Security