Reporters were ushered from the room before the two men began their formal talks.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday instructed his trade officials to look at increasing tariffs to 25% from 10% on US$200 billion in Chinese imports into the United States.

Trump, who has accused China and others of exploiting the United States in global trade, has demanded that Beijing make a host of concessions to avoid the new duties, which could be imposed in the weeks after a comment period closes on Sept 5.

China, however, shows no sign of bending to Washington’s pressure.

Wang, who is also China’s foreign minister, urged the United States on Thursday to calm down and “carefully listen to the voices of US consumers”.

So far, the United States has imposed duties on US$34 billion of imports from China as part of a first tranche of sanctions on US$50 billion of goods.

It wants China to stop stealing US corporate secrets, abandon plans to boost its high-tech industries at America’s expense and stop subsidising Chinese companies with cheap loans that enable them to compete unfairly.

China says the United States is trying to stop the rise of a competitor and it has imposed its own tariffs on US goods. The rising tensions have weighed on stock and currency markets, with the Chinese yuan falling against the dollar.