Trump told reporters on Wednesday that his country would have a “fair deal with China”, adding when asked if Washington was talking to Beijing that “everything’s active”.
Asked if there is direct US contact with China on trade, Trump said: “Every day.”
China’s foreign ministry also responded to the claims on Thursday, calling reports of ongoing negotiations “false”.
“As far as I know, China and the US have not conducted any consultations or negotiations on the issue of tariffs, let alone reached any agreement,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a daily news conference.
Beijing’s denial of ongoing negotiations coincides with comments made Wednesday by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told reporters that the two countries were “not yet” talking on an agreement to lower tariffs.
“I think both sides are waiting to speak to the other,” he said at an event on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank’s spring meetings in Washington.
The IMF this week revised down its forecast for global growth, citing an increasingly uncertain economic outlook in which “downside risks dominate”.
It also significantly lowered its forecast for China’s economic expansion this year to 4 per cent – well below Beijing’s official target of around 5 per cent.
Chinese exports last year reached record highs, but experts say that strong turbulence to global trade brought about by US tariffs may force Beijing to depend on other sources of activity to meet its goals.
