Trump says it’s ‘possible’ for deal with China’s Xi to avoid more tariffs

He also left open the possibility of imposing additional tariffs on China if no agreement was reached. “I would do additional tariffs, very substantial additional tariffs, if that doesn’t work, if we don’t make a deal,” Trump said.

China and the United States have been embroiled in trade tensions marked by tit-for-tat tariffs. Washington has blamed the end of talks on Beijing, saying China reneged on concessions it had already made.

Trump said China knows what the United States needs to have for a trade deal to go through and pushed for China to return to the negotiating table with the same concessions they had made before talks ended in May.

Trump has previously threatened to impose tariffs on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports, but on Wednesday, he said he could consider placing a 10% duty on Chinese goods rather than 25pc, as he had initially stated.

Trump said if Washington was unable to reach a trade deal with Beijing, his plan was to reduce business with China. Asked about companies relocating production from China to Vietnam, he said Vietnam treated the United States even worse than China.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on another $325 billion of goods, covering nearly all the remaining Chinese imports into the United States – including consumer products such as cellphones, computers and clothing – if the meeting with Xi produces no progress in resolving a host of US complaints around the way China does business.

The two sides could agree not to impose new tariffs as a goodwill gesture to get negotiations going, a US official said on Tuesday.