(Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. U.S. and Chinese senior officials spoke by phone this week, the second call since the late June summit at which the two sides agreed to a truce in their ongoing trade conflict.U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Steven Mnuchin spoke to the Chinese side earlier, a USTR spokesman said. China’s Commerce Ministry said Vice Premier Liu He and Commerce Minister Zhong Shan were among those on the call. There were no details released from both sides on what was discussed.China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang declined to comment on whether the two sides will next meet in
Beijing at a regular briefing on Friday.Talks between the two sides collapsed in May and there’s been little public progress since Presidents
Donald Trump and
Xi Jinping agreed to a truce when they met in
Japan last month. There are still deep differences between the two nations, with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross cautioning the negotiations would be a “long, involved process.”Trump this week reiterated that he could impose additional
tariffs on Chinese imports if he wants, and complained again that
China wasn’t buying the large volumes of U.S. agricultural goods that he claims Xi promised to purchase. Another major sticking point for any resumed negotiations will be how exactly the U.S. will ease trade restrictions on Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies Co.The U.S. government is under pressure from
Congress not to make concessions on Huawei, with a bipartisan group of U.S.
Senate and House lawmakers unveiling legislation this week that that would stop the removal of Huawei from the “technology blacklist” without an act of Congress. U.S. Senator Rick Scott said on Thursday in an Bloomberg Television interview that Huawei is not a trade issue, but a national security one and is non-negotiable.Mnuchin said earlier this week that if discussions with Chinese officials by phone were productive that he and Lighthizer would travel to Beijing for more meetings.(Update with China Commerce Ministry statement in second paragraph.)\--With assistance from Jenny Leonard.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Miao Han in Beijing at mhan22@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey Black at jblack25@bloomberg.net, James Mayger, Sharon ChenFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.