Mubasher: US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin continued discussions with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, in a phone call between the two top officials, according to a news report.

The conversation did not yield any progress to resolve the tariff tit-for-tat dispute between Washington and Beijing, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Monday, citing sources.

This came at the time when US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping plan to meet on the sidelines of a summit of the Group of 20 (G20) to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the end of November and early December.

Earlier this month, following a phone conversation with President Xi,  President Trump said he would make a deal with China, but he said he was ready to impose further tariffs on Chinese imports in the event that US-Sino talks do not yield any progress.

Both leaders reached many consensuses on the trade issue, Chinese Assistant Commerce Minister Li Chenggang told reporters when asked about the call, and whether the world’s largest two economies are ready to resume their dialogue.

“At present, both countries economic teams are having contacts about putting into effect the consensus of the two countries leaders,” Li said, hoping that “this work, with the hard efforts of both sides, can achieve positive progress.”

Trump levied duties on $250 billion in Chinese goods to make Beijing stop intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers, and to enhance market access for US companies.

US tariff rate on $200 billion in Chinese imports is due to rise to 25% from 10% in the beginning of next January.

He also threatened that tariffs would be imposed on the remaining Chinese imports which worth around $267 billion, should China fail to address US demands.