China sees intensive contact with U.S. this month ahead of September trade talks

Chinese and U.S. working teams will be in intensive contact this month to prepare “good groundwork” for the next round of face-to-face trade talks in September, the commerce ministry said on Thursday.

U.S. and Chinese negotiators ended a brief round of talks in Shanghai on Wednesday, with little sign of progress apart from an agreement to meet again next month. It was their first in-person talks since presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to a trade ceasefire at a G20 summit in June.

“With regards to this (week’s) round of negotiations, both sides communicated over two topics: One is how we view the past - we mainly discussed why negotiations broke down and clarified our views on some economic and trade issues,” commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters at a regular briefing.

“The other one is how we view the future to ascertain the principles and methodology of negotiations, as well as relevant timetables.”

China and the United States can find a solution to trade issues if both sides’ concerns are taken into consideration, Gao said, reiterating past comments from Beijing.