US, China to hold trade talks in October

China and the United States have agreed to hold a new round of trade talks early next month in Washington in a bid to resolve their trade disputes, Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

The decision was made during a phone call between Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He and the US' Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin earlier today, the ministry said in a statement, South China Morning Post reported.

The statement added that both sides agreed to make concrete efforts to create positive conditions for continued dialogue.

Trade relations between Washington and Beijing soured further on August 23 after Beijing announced new retaliatory tariffs on imports from the United States, quickly followed by the White House announcing it will increase tariff rates on more than USD 500 billion of imports from China.

Under the new restrictions, China will implement tariffs on more than USD 25 billion of imports from the US on September 1. Chinese tariffs on an additional 40 billion dollars of US goods will take effect on December 15.

In response, the Trump administration will increase tariff rates on more than USD 500 billion of imports from China by 5 per cent. The tariffs will be raised to 15 per cent in two stages, affecting USD 110 of Chinese imports on September 1 and another USD 160 billion of imports on December 15.

Tariffs will increase to 30 per cent on 250 billion dollars of other Chinese imports on October 1.