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President Donald Trump said the United States had reached agreement on some of the most difficult points of trade negotiations with China.
He said that an agreement could be reached in the next four weeks, but added that there were still some stumbling blocks.
The Chinese have expressed optimism, President Xi Jinping touting substantial progress, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
The United States and China have been negotiating since December to try to end a trade war that is hurting the global economy.
Trump said the US and China have agreed on "many of the most difficult points" but "we still have some way to go".
He was speaking from the White House before a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.
The US president said that if there was an agreement, he would hold a summit with President Xi.
"It's an epic, historic agreement, if it happens," Trump said.
"It's the big daddy of all and we'll see if that happens, there's a good chance it's happening."
Points gleaned from the negotiations in recent weeks have included the speed of the reduction in tariffs and the way in which an agreement would be implemented.
At the press conference, Trump suggested that some of them persisted.
He added that it would be difficult for the United States to let trade continue with China in the same way as in the past, if an agreement did not materialize.
& # 39; Contradictory Signals & # 39;
The world's two largest economies have imposed tariffs on billions of dollars worth of reciprocal goods over the past year.
Negotiations between them have continued since the conclusion of a trade truce in December, but have sometimes been difficult.
Robin Brant, BBC correspondent in China, said the two sides were once again giving contradictory signals.
Liu said the United States and China had reached a new consensus on important issues such as the text of the economic and trade agreement, Xinhua reported.
While this echoed Trump's comments, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer seemed more cautious. According to him, there are still important issues in the trade negotiations.
Mr Brant said that there was clearly a significant distance between the two parties on the crucial issue of rule enforcement.
What are we discussing?
The United States accuses China of stealing the intellectual property of US companies, forcing them to transfer technology to China.
Washington wants Beijing to change its economic policy, which unduly favors domestic firms through subsidies and other forms of support, and asks China to buy more US products to reduce the accumulated trade deficit.
China accuses the United States of triggering the biggest trade war in economic history and should not consider broader structural changes in its economy.
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What is at stake?
If the United States does not reach an agreement, the United States could more than double the 10% tariff applied to $ 200 billion worth of Chinese goods and impose new tariffs.
Mr. Trump has in the past threatened to tax all Chinese products destined for the United States.
The United States has already imposed tariffs of $ 250 billion on Chinese products, and China has responded with rights on $ 110 billion of US products.
The damaging trade war has already clouded global trade and the global economy.
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