VietJoy

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that China has reached out to resume trade negotiations, a move that comes after the two nations announced their latest round of reciprocal tariff hikes.

Speaking at the meeting of G-7 leaders in France, Trump told reporters that China had called top U.S. trade representatives "and said let's get back to the table."

He called the willingness to resume talks "a very positive development for the world."

"They want to get something done.  Now, maybe it won't get done, but this is the first time I've seen them where they really do want to make a deal, and I think that's a very positive step."

Trump declined to comment about whether he had been directly in touch with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but he repeatedly praised Xi, calling him a "great leader."

His comments followed those by China's top trade negotiator Vice Premier Liu He, who said Monday that China is willing to negotiate with the United States to end the ongoing trade battle, and that China opposes "the escalation of the trade war."

The developments did little to soothe major stock markets in Japan, China and Hong Kong, which all traded down Monday.

Last week, before heading to France to meet with leaders of some of the world's leading economies, Trump boosted tariffs on $550 billion with of Chinese products shipped to the United States after China said it would raise tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. exports to Japan.

The U.S.-China tariff war has roiled world stock markets for weeks, with wild gyrations in market performance, depending on the tariff announcements coming out of Washington and Beijing and then regaining ground when some hopeful signs surface that the world's two biggest economies might yet reach a trade agreement in the coming months. 

On Friday, U.S. stock indexes plummeted more than 2% after China first announced the tariff hike on the $75 billion worth of U.S. exports, followed hours later by Trump saying he would increase existing tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods from 25% to 30% as of Oct. 1. In addition, he said a new round of tariffs on another $300 billion in Chinese exports would be increased from 10% to 15%. The first batch of those tariffs are set to take effect Sept. 1.

Monday, after Trump's comments, U.S. stock futures climbed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average looking set to open 200 points higher.