China Says Trade Talks to Resume in October

China and the U.S. plan to resume face-to-face trade talks in early October, according to state-run Chinese media.

China’s Vice Premier Liu He, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke by phone Thursday morning and agreed to a plan to meet in early October, China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement reported in Chinese media.

U.S. officials have confirmed the phone conversation but stopped short of confirming a date for the talks. Instead, a Trump administration official said high-level officials were expected to meet in the coming weeks. Mid-level officials from both countries are expected to start working together in mid-September, according to the Trump administration.

Both sides had said they planned to meet in early September after the last round of face-to-face talks in China concluded in late July. But when after U.S. officials reported to President Donald Trump that China had demanded the U.S. halt tariffs already in place and drop actions against Huawei, those plans fell by the wayside. President Trump announced he would raise tariffs on Chinese imports and China retaliated with its own tariff hikes.

Stocks in the U.S. rallied after the new round of talks were announced despite widespread pessimism that the trade dispute can be resolved quickly.