Sino-US Trade Talks To Resume By Phone Next Week

Chinese and US officials are working to schedule a top-level trade talks by telephone next week but a face-to-face encounter has not been scheduled yet, US officials said on Friday.

Efforts to pencil in a new round of negotiations come a week after President Xi Jinping met his US counterpart Donald Trump in Japan and agreed to restart their stalled negotiations

But Beijing this week showed no sign of softening its position, with the Commerce Ministry announcing on Thursday that any resolution would require Washington to lift the steep tariffs it imposed on Chinese imports last year.

"I know they're working on coming up with a date for so-called face-to-face meetings. That will happen," top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow told Fox Business Network on Friday.

"I don't know if that's this coming week. I think the phone calls are this week. The face-to-face may not be for another week, but I don't want to get ahead of that curve," he said.

An official with the US Trade Representative's office confirmed that efforts are under way to schedule a call between top negotiators for next week. (AFP)