A senior International Monetary Fund official on Wednesday urged the United States to engage with all its major trading partners on the underlying issues that risked fragmenting global trade and said open trade - not tariffs - were the right approach.

Asked about U.S. President Joe Biden's plans to call for sharply higher tariffs on Chinese metal products, Era Dabla-Norris, deputy director of the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department, said maintaining open trade was vital to the U.S. outlook.

"We advocate for open trade and cross-border investment flows because this is important also for global productivity and the global economy," she told a news conference.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal)