The U.S. and China made no progress, during deputy-level trade talks earlier in the week, on issues at the center of a trade dispute between the two camps, the South China Morning Post reported, citing two sources.
Issues critical to the U.S. like forced technology transfers and state subsidies were avoided, with negotiations instead focusing on agricultural trade and intellectual property rights, according to the report.
A source reportedly said that Chinese negotiators were unable to convince the U.S. side to not proceed with a tariff hike.
In addition, the Chinese delegation may cut its stay in the U.S. short and leave Oct. 11, a day earlier than the prior plan.
The deputy-level negotiations preceded high-level trade talks scheduled to kick off Oct. 10, but there is uncertainty whether the two camps will be able to reach a breakthrough.
The U.S. was considering a currency pact with China as part of an interim trade agreement that could avert potential tariff increases on Chinese goods. China was mulling increasing its U.S. farm imports as part of trade-related concessions.
The U.S. added multiple Chinese companies to its trade blacklist over alleged human rights violations, a claim China denied, suggesting it may retaliate.
