Washington DC - President Donald Trump struck an upbeat tone on Wednesday, teasing an upcoming "fair deal" on trade with China – a possibility that Beijing immediately struck down.

"We're going to have a fair deal with China, it's gonna be fair," Trump said. "Everything's active, everyone wants to be a part of what we're doing."

"They know that they can't get away with it any longer, but they're still going to do fine, and we are going to have a country that you can be proud of, not a laughingstock all over the world for many years."

Trump maintained that he gets along "very well" with Chinese President Xi Jinping and hopes that they can soon reach an agreement.

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Trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies have soared as Trump ramped up levies to 145% on imports from China. Trump has justified the move with a variety of explanations, mainly citing trade practices that Washington sees as unfair.

Beijing countered with new 125% tariffs on US goods and heavy restrictions on agricultural imports.

Despite Trump's insistence that the US is engaging with China "every day," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that the two countries are "not yet" talking, and said that "both sides are waiting to speak to the other."

A Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson also rejected Trump's optimistic remarks, saying: "Any claims about the progress of China-US economic and trade negotiations are groundless and have no factual basis."

"China urges the United States to correct its wrong practices, show the sincerity needed for talks (and) return to the correct track of equal dialogue and consultation."