Foreign Ministry: President Xi promises 'close contact' with Trump

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China's foreign ministry has reiterated President Xi Jinping's desire to confer closely with his U.S. counterpart on the trade dispute between the two nations.

"We noticed that President Trump expressed willingness to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. As President Xi put in his earlier message to Trump, he would also like to keep in close contact with Trump," ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Friday.

Geng made the remarks during a regular news conference in Beijing.

Regarding the latest round of China-U.S. trade talks which ended this week, he said a clear timetable and plan for the next round of negotiations have been put out.

According to a statement from the Chinese delegation in Washington released on Thursday, the two sides had "candid, specific and fruitful" discussions. Intellectual property rights and balanced bilateral trade were some of the major topics.

China vowed to expand imports of agricultural products, energy products, manufactured goods and service products from the U.S. to meet the needs of its "high-quality economic development and the people's well-being."