China says it is ‘evaluating’ US offer for talks on Trump tariffs

China said it was evaluating a US offer to hold talks on the 145 per cent tariff Donald Trump imposed on the country last month but warned Washington to not engage in “extortion and coercion”.

The Chinese commerce ministry said on Friday that Washington had approached Beijing to engage in talks on the Trump tariffs which quickly escalated a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

After the US placed China under a tariff regime that could hike levies on some imports to 245 per cent, Beijing retaliated with a 125 per cent tariff on American products, labelling Mr Trump's strategy "a joke".

The trade war torpedoed global stock and bond markets, and disrupted supply chains.

Now, with the US seemingly blinking first by offering talks, Beijing signalled a potential de-escalation in the trade war by saying that its door was open for discussions.

“China's position is consistent. If we fight, we will fight to the end; if we talk, the door is open,” the commerce ministry said. “If the US wants to talk, it should show its sincerity and be prepared to correct its wrong practices and cancel unilateral tariffs.”

"The US has recently taken the initiative on many occasions to convey information to China through relevant parties, saying it hopes to talk with China," the ministry continued, adding that Beijing was "evaluating this".

It, however, warned that “attempting to use talks as a pretext to engage in coercion and extortion would not work”.

The statement came a day after a Weibo account linked to Chinese state media said the US had been seeking to start talks with Beijing.

“China has no need to talk to the United States,” Yuyuantantian, a Weibo account linked to CCTV, said. "From the perspective of negotiations, the United States must be the more anxious party at present."

The US president previously claimed that talks with China were already underway, but his claim was swiftly denied by Beijing.

The commerce ministry also asked the US to be prepared to take action in “correcting erroneous practices” and cancel unilateral tariffs, stating that Washington needed to show “sincerity” in negotiations.

Trade experts have warned that the tariff war could make bilateral trade impossible with import duties beyond 35 per cent potentially wiping out the profit margins of Chinese exporters and making American products in China similarly exorbitant.

In the US, senior Trump administration officials, including treasury secretary Scott Bessent and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, have said they were hoping for progress with Beijing to ease the trade conflict.

"I am confident that the Chinese will want to reach a deal. And as I said, this is going to be a multi-step process. First, we need to de-escalate, and then...we will start focusing on a larger trade deal," Mr Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network this week.