US President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands ahead of their bilateral meeting during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday. (Photo: Reuters)

China’s Commerce Ministry revealed the decision on Thursday after a call between Liu He, China’s vice-premier, and top US officials including Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, and Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury secretary.

The officials agreed to "work together and take practical actions to create favourable conditions for consultations", the ministry said in a statement. It added both sides would "maintain close communication" ahead of the talks.

On September 1^st, the US imposed 15 per cent tariffs on 125 billion USD of additional Chinese goods. China also moved to slap its own retaliatory levies of 5% and 10% on 1,717 American products.