"Chinese State Council Vice Premier Liu He held a phone conversation with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the parties have discussed in detail the key issues [relating] to the text [of the trade agreement] and defined the agenda for the further work," the statement said.
According to the statement, the phone conversation was initiated by Washington.
China and the United States have been embroiled in a trade dispute since June, when US President Donald Trump announced that Washington would subject $50 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent tariffs in a bid to fix the US-Chinese trade deficit.
Since then, the two countries have exchanged several rounds of tit-for-tat trade tariffs.
Trump announced last month that he would delay another planned increase in tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that was originally set for 1 March, citing progress in the trade talks.
At the G20 summit in Argentina in December, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed upon a 90-day truce to allow room for a new trade agreement.
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