China's foreign ministry says Xi and Trump did not have a call recently

BEIJING -China's foreign ministry on Monday said President Xi Jinping had not spoken to Donald Trump recently, nor were their respective administrations trying to strike a tariff deal, contradicting the U.S. president's claim in an interview with Time magazine.

"As far as I know, the two heads of state have not called each other recently," Guo Jiakun, a ministry spokesperson, said. "I would like to reiterate that China and the U.S. have not conducted consultations or negotiations on the tariffs issue."

"If the U.S. really wants to solve the problem through dialogue and negotiation, it should stop threatening and blackmailing ," Guo told a regular news conference.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview published on Friday that his administration was talking with China to reach a tariff deal and that President Xi had called him. Beijing last week repeatedly denied such talks were taking place, accusing Washington of "misleading the public."

Speculation about trade negotiations between the world's largest economies swirled last week, after Trump asserted on Thursday that trade talks were underway.

The Trump administration would look at lowering tariffs on some imported Chinese goods, pending talks with Beijing, Reuters reported last week, while China urged the U.S. to cancel all "unilateral" tariffs.

The two countries have each hiked levies on each other's goods to over 100% since Trump took office in January, rattling global markets and disrupting business operations on both sides.

China has exempted some U.S. imports from its 125% tariffs and is asking firms to identify critical goods they need levy-free, according to businesses that have been notified, Reuters reported on Friday.

Chinese policymakers on Monday downplayed the impact of U.S. tariffs on its growth in a bid to assuage concerns the broad U.S. tariffs could derail efforts to shore up a fragile economic recovery.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.