US has reached out to China to initate tariff talks, claims Beijing state media

The United States has approached China seeking talks over President Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs, a social media account affiliated with Chinese state media said on Thursday, the latest report of possible moves towards negotiations on the levies.

“The US has proactively reached out to China through multiple channels, hoping to hold discussions on the tariff issue,” Yuyuan Tantian said in a post published on its official Weibo social media account, citing anonymous sources.

Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, on Wednesday said: “as far as I know, there have been no consultations or negotiations between China and the US on tariffs”.

Trump said in a US media interview published last Friday that his administration was talking with China to reach a tariff deal and that Chinese President Xi Jinping had called him. Beijing last week repeatedly denied such talks were taking place, accusing Washington of “misleading the public”.

Yuyuan Tantian is not among China’s most authoritative state media outlets. The Global Times, which is owned by the newspaper of the governing Communist Party, People’s Daily, has often been first to report China’s next steps in trade disagreements over the past few years.

Trump said on Wednesday he belived there was a “very good chance” his administration could do a deal with China, hours after Xi called for China, the world’s second-largest economy, to take action to adjust to changes in the international environment, without explicitly mentioning the United States.