U.S. President Donald Trump's administration reached out to China to initiate talks over a bitter tariff exchange between the two countries, a state-run Chinese media outlet reported on Wednesday.

U.S. officials had reached out to China through various channels with the intent of negotiating on tariff issues, according to a post by Yuyuantantian, a Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) account affiliated with state broadcaster China Central Television.

The report comes amid heightened speculation over U.S.-China trade talks, with Washington and Beijing offering contrasting views on negotiations. Trump claimed several times that his administration was in talks with China, while Beijing denied that any trade negotiations were taking place.

Trump's top trade adviser- Jamieson Greer- said in a Fox News interview on Wednesday that there were no trade talks taking place with China.

Trump recently signaled that he was open to lowering tariffs against China if Beijing came to the negotiating table. But China has so far maintained a hardline stance that the U.S. will have to deescalate before any dialogue.

The world's two largest economies became embroiled in a rapidly escalating trade war in April, after Trump imposed reciprocal tariffs of 145% on Chinese imports. Beijing had decried the move and retaliated with tariffs of up to 125%.

Source: Investing.com