Trump said in a U.S. media interview published last Friday that his administration was talking with China to reach a tariff deal and that China's President Xi Jinping had called him. Beijing last week repeatedly denied such talks were taking place, accusing Washington of "misleading the public".

Tariffs on China will remain at their current levels, according to Stephen Miran, a key architect of President Donald Trump’s trade policies. Miran’s comments come at a time when the administration is trying to calm nervous investors but offering mixed signals.

Monthly surveys of Chinese factory managers shows export orders slowed in April as higher tariffs on U.S. imports began to kick in.