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Senior US officials, led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, are working to end the trade stalemate through diplomatic channels. A new round of talks was in preparation for the coming weeks, but Trump's decision to set tariffs on additional Chinese imports of $ 200 billion seems to have stalled negotiations for now.
On Friday, a senior White House official said that no new meeting is currently scheduled.
"There are no US-China negotiations scheduled at the moment," said the official. "That does not mean it will not happen."
Although no meeting between US and Chinese officials was officially scheduled before the announcement of the tariff, the officials had laid the groundwork for a new round of negotiations at the end of the month. of September, which now seems to be over.
"There is no meeting on the books," said the senior White House official.
The tariffs announced by Trump on Monday marked an escalation in a growing trade war between Washington and Beijing. Trump's assistants are divided on a better strategy. Mnuchin has made diplomatic efforts to convince China to change its business practices. Meanwhile, supporters of the administration have advocated a stricter approach.
Despite warnings of political fallout, Trump has sided with the extremists, at least for now. He remains convinced that a trade battle with China is possible and is reinforced by polls showing that his rates are popular among his Republican voters.
But analysts and even some of Trump's collaborators fear that the fallout from his trade war will not fade quickly, even if an agreement is reached. A number of companies, including Target, Apple and Walmart, the country 's largest retailer, have warned the administration in a letter that new tariffs on Chinese products would result in price increases. And Alibaba billionaire leader Jack Ma said this week that the nascent trade war had undermined his promise to bring 1 million jobs to the United States.
"This promise was based on Sino-US friendly cooperation and reasonable bilateral trade relations, but the current situation has already destroyed this base," Ma said. "This promise can not be fulfilled."
Beijing has vowed revenge and is preparing to impose $ 60 billion tariffs on US products as of next week.
Despite announcing new tariffs this week, Trump has threatened a new wave of Chinese imports worth $ 267 billion if Beijing retaliated against US farmers or industrial workers. This would mean that the bulk of Chinese imports to the United States would be subject to tariffs.
At the same time, Trump has not ruled out new talks with China, including a possible meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, possibly on the sidelines of the G20 summit scheduled for November in Argentina.
Some officials said the talks may be more likely to succeed after the mid-term elections in November, although deep Republican losses could push Trump to take a tougher stance on an issue he sees as politically advantageous.
Trump hailed his good relationship with Xi as a reason to believe that the trade clash can be resolved.
"They want to make an agreement and see if we can reach an agreement," he said Friday night at a rally in Missouri.
Trump also asked if his tough trade position had pushed China to be less cooperative in enforcing sanctions pressure on North Korea.
"I hope they are still useful," he said at a press conference at East Room this week. "There is a question about it."
CNN's Cristina Alesci, Jeremy Diamond, Matt Rivers and Donna Borak contributed to this report.
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