China said it is evaluating the possibility of trade talks with the United States (US), following the escalation of a tariff war between the two countries.

Quoting CNBC International, Friday (May 2, 2025), Beijing said it wants the US to remove all unilateral tariffs. China believes that failure to do so would demonstrate a lack of sincerity from Washington and further endanger mutual trust.

"If the US wants to talk, it must show its sincerity and be prepared to correct its wrong practices and cancel unilateral tariffs," Beijing's official statement said.

US President Donald Trump imposed 145% tariffs on Chinese imports this year, prompting Beijing to impose 125% retaliatory tariffs. So far, both sides have sought to mitigate the economic impact of the tariffs by granting exemptions for certain essential products.

The offshore Chinese yuan strengthened 0.14% to 7.2665 against the US dollar following the call to action. While China's onshore markets were closed for a holiday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.2% at the open.

Beijing's latest comments follow a series of conflicting statements from the Trump administration and Chinese leadership about whether talks are underway, with both sides eager to avoid being seen as the first to back down. Separately, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News that China wants to meet and talk, while indicating that such talks are imminent.

Tianchen Xu, a senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said that this call for negotiations cannot yet be concluded in a truly positive direction. He believes both sides are waiting for the other to give in first.

"We need to view this exchange of words with skepticism," he said. "I believe that some level of working engagement may have occurred, or may soon occur, that could result in tariffs being lowered to a less damaging level of 40% to 50% over the next quarter or two."