The White House says two senior economic officials will travel to China next week to continue negotiations aimed at resolving the two economic giants ongoing trade war.

A statement issued Tuesday says Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will meet with Vice Premier Liu He in Beijing on April 30. The two sides will discuss such issues as intellectual property, forced technology transfer, non-tariff barriers and agriculture. 

The White House says Vice Premier Liu will lead a Chinese delegation to Washington for additional talks the following week, on May 8.

Washington and Beijing have been engaged in several rounds of talks since the start of the year to resolve a trade war that began last year when President Donald Trump imposed punitive tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports to compel Beijing to change its trading practices. China has retaliated with its own tariff increases on $110 billion of U.S. exports. 

The Trump administration is also pushing China to end its practice of forcing U.S. companies to transfer their technology advances to Chinese firms.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jingping agreed to a 90-day truce in the trade war during a meeting in Buenos Aires last December 1. The U.S. president had initially imposed a deadline of March 2 for both sides to reach a deal before imposing a hike in tariffs from 10 to 25 percent, but delayed the increase just days before they were to take effect citing “substantial progress” in the negotiations.
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