The United States and China have agreed to return to the negotiating table in Washington to discuss trade. It will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two sides since the trade war's rapid escalation in recent weeks, CNN reports.
The in-person discussions will resume in "early October," according to a statement released in China Thursday morning by the country's Commerce Ministry. Chinese authorities added that China Vice Premier and chief trade negotiator Liu He has spoken with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin over the phone about the talks.
A spokesperson for Lighthizer's department confirmed that the two sides talked and agreed to hold meetings in the US capital "in the coming weeks."
Both countries said they will continue talking ahead of that in-person meeting. The countries agreed to "create good conditions for negotiation," China's Commerce Ministry said. US trade authorities said that deputy-level meetings this month will "lay the groundwork for meaningful progress."