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WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday China should free two Canadian citizens who were detained this week after authorities in Canada arrested a senior Chinese technology executive on a U.S. extradition warrant.

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference after the U.S.-Canada ministerial meeting at the State Department in Washington, U.S., December 14, 2018. REUTERS/Jim Young

Pompeo’s comments were the first by a senior U.S. official on the arrests, which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said could escalate a growing trade conflict between China and the United States.

“The unlawful detention of two Canadian citizens is unacceptable,” Pompeo told reporters after talks in Washington with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland. “They ought to be returned ... We ask all nations of the world to treat other citizens properly.”

Canadian officials were granted consular access on Friday to one of the two detainees in China and were still trying to contact the second, the Foreign Ministry said.

China detained the two - businessman Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat and an adviser with the International Crisis Group (ICG) - after Canadian police arrested Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s [HWT.UL] chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, on Dec 1.

ICG President Robert Malley also called for Kovrig’s release on Saturday.

“Michael’s arrest is unjust. He should be freed immediately,” Malley said in a statement.

“Far from being secretive, Michael’s work was open for all to see, Chinese officials first and foremost,” he said. Kovrig did not do anything to endanger China’s national security, either as a diplomat or at the ICG, Malley said.

U.S. prosecutors accuse Meng of misleading multinational banks about Iran-linked transactions, putting the banks at risk of violating U.S. sanctions. Meng,

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