U.S., China may pursue talks over trade differences - USTR official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and China may pursue negotiations to resolve deepening differences over trade, a U.S. trade official said on Wednesday, but he declined to say whether any new high-level meetings were planned.

The official also said retaliatory tariffs proposed by China on $50 billion worth of U.S. goods on Wednesday, hours after Washington readied tariffs on a similar amount of Chinese goods, were an attempt to "intimidate" the Trump administration to "back down" from its trade demands.

"As the president himself made clear, whenever he announced the 301 actions, there have been talks, there may continue to be talks," the official told reporters on a conference call. "We would like to see China change its actions and we'd like to see them move in a more market oriented direction."

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by David Gregorio)