President Donald Trump has said the US and China will “very shortly” resume trade talks after a weekend of escalating tension with Beijing.
“China called last night… said let’s get back to the table. So we’ll be getting back to the table,” he said.
On Friday Mr Trump sharply hiked tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese imports in retaliation for fresh duties from Beijing.
Earlier, China said it is willing to resolve its trade dispute with the United States through “calm” negotiations and resolutely opposes the escalation of the conflict. The comments were made by Vice Premier Liu He, who has been leading the talks with Washington, said on Monday.
The increasingly bitter trade war between the world’s two largest economies sharply escalated on Friday, with both sides levelling more tariffs on each other’s exports.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced an additional duty on some $550 billion of targeted Chinese goods on Friday, hours after China unveiled retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. goods.
Two dragons imposed in front of the Los Angeles City Hall mark the entrance of Chinatown in Los Angeles, California, USA. EPA-EFE/ETIENNE LAURENT
However, Trump appeared on Sunday to back off on his threat to order U.S. companies out of China.
Liu, speaking at a tech conference in southwest China’s Chongqing, said nobody benefited from a trade war.
At the same time, China’s yuan slumped to a fresh 11-year low against the dollar on Monday and stocks fell as the Sino-U.S. trade war sharply escalated, threatening to inflict more damage on the world’s largest economies and weigh further on global growth.
In Hong Kong, a weekend flare-up in violence during anti-government protests added to pressure on share prices.
