Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai speaks at a reception celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) at the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C., the United States, on July 27, 2017.

Chinese officials, as well as diplomats from around the world, are confused about which officials in the Trump administration are driving policy decisions, China's ambassador to the United States told Fox News on Sunday.

In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Ambassador Cui Tiankai said it's unclear to him whether President Donald Trump is listening primarily to hardliners like White House Director of Trade Peter Navarro, or relative moderates like chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

"Honestly, I've been talking to ambassadors of other countries in Washington, D.C., and this is also part of their problem," Tiankai told the network. "They don't know who is the final decision-maker. Of course, presumably, the president will take the final decision, but who is playing what role? Sometimes it could be very confusing."

China and the United States are embroiled in a months-long trade dispute, in which the world's two largest economies have slapped tariffs worth billions of dollars on each other's goods. At the heart of the dispute are U.S. allegations of Chinese theft of intellectual property and unfair trade practices, which Tiankai rejected in his interview.