(MENAFN) Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent agreed on Saturday to hold a new round of in-person economic discussions next week following a video call.

Bessent wrote on the US social media platform X that he had held "frank and detailed discussions regarding trade between the United States and China" with He. Both sides plan to continue the talks face-to-face in the coming week.

According to a statement from the Chinese government, Washington and Beijing have agreed to conduct the next round of economic and trade consultations "as soon as possible." The statement added that the video call involved "candid, in-depth, and constructive exchanges on implementing the important consensus reached by the two heads of state during their phone talks since the start of this year and key issues in bilateral economic and trade relations." US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also took part in the call.

The discussions come after a turbulent week in US-China trade relations. President Donald Trump had threatened to impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports in response to Beijing’s new export restrictions. On October 10, China expanded its rare earth export controls to cover minerals used for military purposes, marking the first time such measures were implemented.

Following the threat, Trump later suggested he might not follow through with the "massive increase of tariffs" on China. In a Fox Business interview on Thursday, he said: “It’s not sustainable, but that’s what the number is.” He added, “It’s probably not, you know, it could stand, but they forced me to do that,” and concluded, “I think we’re going to do fine with China.”

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