China has scrapped the trade talks with the US due next week by deciding not to send its Vice Premier Liu He for the negotiations, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The newspaper cited sources saying China was also not sending a mid-level delegation to the US ahead of Liu’s planned visit.
The Chinese government has not made any announcement yet.
China’s move is bound to ratchet up its tensions with the US.
Beijing and Washington are locked in a festering trade war with both sides hitting each other’s goods with tariffs worth billions.
Earlier this week, the US slapped an additional 10 per cent import duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese products, warning Beijing of fresh taxes on another $267 billion in Chinese imports.
The latest tariffs and the threat didn’t deter Beijing from launching retaliatory tariffs on American goods worth $60 billion.
Earlier, both sides had slapped additional tariffs of worth $50 billion on each others’ products.