Spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry Geng Shuang said the it has received the invitation to return to the negotiating table issued by the White House on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
The two sides have failed to make progress on the escalating trade disputes since last meeting for high-profile talks in June. On the eve of a new $200 billion tariff package being signed in by the administration, fresh could offer a means of mitigating further damages.
Chinese media, however, struck a more defiant tone on Friday morning. “The Trump administration should not be mistaken that China surrender to the US demands. It has enough fuel to drive its economy even if a trade war is prolonged,” the official English-language newspaper China Daily wrote in an editorial.
President Donald Trump himself cast doubt on the prospects of further talks, after US media suggested this week that the invitation was a sign that the administration was having second thoughts.
“Our markets are surging, theirs are collapsing. We will soon be taking in billions in tariffs & making products at home. If we meet, we meet,” Trump tweeted.