Uncertainty over US-China talks add to confusion

US President Donald Trump asserted in an interview published on Friday that tariff negotiations were under way with China, but Beijing denied any talks were taking place, the latest in a series of conflicting signals over what progress was being made to de-escalate a trade war threatening to sap global growth. Trump told TIME magazine that talks were taking place and that Chinese President Xi Jinping had called him, an assertion he repeated to reporters as he was leaving the White House on Friday morning for Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis. “China and the US are NOT having any consultation or negotiation on #tariffs,” China shot back in a foreign ministry statement posted by the Chinese embassy in the US.