By Lingling Wei

China scotched trade talks with the U.S. that were planned for the coming days, according to people briefed on the matter, further dimming prospects for resolving a trade battle between the world's two largest economies.

The decision to pull out of the talks follows the latest escalation in trade tensions. On Monday, President Trump announced new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to retaliate with levies on $60 billion in U.S. goods. Mr. Trump then vowed to further ratchet up pressure on China by kicking in tariffs on another $257 billion of Chinese products.

Chinese officials have said such pressure tactics wouldn't induce them to cooperate. By declining to participate in the talks, the people said, Beijing is following up on its pledge to avoid negotiating under threat.

"Everything the U.S. does hasn't given any impression of sincerity and goodwill," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a press briefing Friday. "We hope that the U.S. side will take measures to correct its mistakes."

The latest exchange of tariffs, which take effect Monday, brings China and the U.S. closer to a full-blown trade war.

Still, Beijing is leaving open the possibility of engaging in fresh negotiations with Washington next month, said the people familiar with the matter.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sent an invitation to Vice Premier Liu He, President Xi Jinping's economic czar, two weeks ago asking for a fresh round of talks this month.

Previous rounds of negotiations had ended without any breakthroughs. Trump officials perceived the offers from Beijing -- largely involving more Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural and other products -- as inadequate in addressing the White House's demand for a fairer playing field for American businesses in China.

Originally, Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen, who led China's negotiating team in the last round, was to again lead a group for the talks in the U.S. and then Mr. Liu himself would follow up with a trip to Washington on Sept. 27 and Sept. 28. Both of those trips have now been called off, the people said.

"There are no meetings on the books right now," a senior White House official said Friday. ""The President wants us to continue to engage to try to achieve a positive way forward, but it does take China to come to the table in a positive way."

Vivian Salama contributed to this article.

Write to Lingling Wei at lingling.wei@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 21, 2018 23:26 ET (03:26 GMT)

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