The dispute over tire imports between the US and China is an anomaly that should not "taint" bilateral ties, said Jon Huntsman, Washington's ambassador to Beijing.

In an interview with China Central Television, Huntsman said both countries should treat their relationship, which is now "a global one", with "goodwill, understanding, and mutual respect".

"We can take that issue, we can compartmentalize it and deal with it with trade experts, while allowing all the other issues to remain on the horizon, where concerns and questions about the trade case don't spill over, in other words, tainting the relationship," Huntsman said in Beijing a few days before the G20 summit opened in Pittsburgh.