China-USA trade talks stumble

China has denied offering to reduce its annual trade surplus with the US by $200bn through increased imports of American products, rebuffing earlier reports in American media.

After officials from both countries held talks in Washington on Thursday, US officials told CNN on Thursday that China proposed boosting Chinese purchases of US goods to reduce the trade imbalance between the two countries and avoid a commercial war.

But the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday that no such offer was made. “These rumours are not true”, a spokesman said.

“I do not know about the offers made by either party. As we know the consultations are still underway. I am not getting ahead of that. The consultations themselves are constructive,” he added.

In move to ease trade tensions, China instead said it would remove its recently implemented tariff on US exports of sorghum.

The US administration already requested a $200bn reduction in the U.S. trade gap with China by 2020 in previous talks in Beijing. China bought $130bn in American exports last year.

China has also been urging the United States to lift a ban on the sale of American parts to ZTE, a Chinese telecoms firm.