CHINA’S foreign minister said his country and the United States should overcome obstacles between the nations ahead of an expected summit next month between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump.

Wang Yi met US ambassador to China David Perdue on Wednesday and called on both sides to “focus on the positive agenda, properly manage differences, remove interference and overcome obstacles to high-level exchanges between the two countries,” Chinese broadcaster CCTV reported today.

China-US relations still face various risks and challenges, he acknowledged in a statement released by CCTV.

Mr Xi and Mr Trump met in May in Beijing and pledged to keep the relationship stable and maintain the fragile trade truce. 

Mr Trump invited Mr Xi to meet on September 24 in the US, but the exact date of the visit has not been confirmed.

Since then, however, the US and China have continued to take targeted economic action against each other, including Washington banning imports of new Chinese-made humanoid robots and Beijing banning US entities engaging in trade and other activities in China.

Also today, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press conference that China and the US were maintaining communication about the two leaders’ forthcoming meeting within the year.

Tensions had been elevated since Mr Trump’s return to the White House last year, with the US at one point saying tariffs on China would be up to 145 per cent, although the tariff levels came down substantially later. 

Tensions have eased in recent months and several agreements were made during the leaders’ May meeting, including the setting up of boards of trade and investment between the two countries.

But the Trump administration has recently been considering new tariffs of 7.5 per cent on China as a result of an ongoing US probe against 16 economies on excess industrial capacity and production.