U.S. and Chinese negotiators have agreed to extend high-level trade talks through the weekend, and President Donald Trump saying he hopes to meet next month at his Florida resort with President Xi Jinping to try to finalise an agreement.
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The news followed two days of negotiations in Washington aimed at resolving a trade war that has rattled financial markets and threatened global economic growth.
"We're making a lot of progress," Trump told reporters at the White House. "I think there's a very good chance that a deal can be made."
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the negotiations, which had been scheduled to conclude Friday afternoon, would continue through Sunday. The Chinese delegation is led by Xi's special envoy, Vice Premier Liu He, the American team by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
Trump had originally warned that he would escalate the tariffs he has imposed on $US200 billion ($A280 billion) in Chinese imports, from 10 to 25 percent, if the two sides failed to reach a deal by March 2. But in recent days, and again on Friday, he raised the possibility of extending that deadline if negotiators were nearing an agreement.
The world's two biggest economies are sparring over U.S. allegations that Beijing uses predatory tactics in a drive to make Chinese companies world leaders in such advanced industries as robotics and driverless cars.
Those tactics, the Trump administration argues, include cyber-theft, unfair subsidies for state-owned Chinese companies, the use of regulations to hobble China's foreign competitors and pressure on American companies to hand over technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market.
The administration contends that Beijing has repeatedly failed to live up to its past commitments to open its markets and to treat foreign companies more fairly.
Australian Associated Press