The trade spat escalated earlier this month when Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese goods to a whopping 145%. China responded with 125% tariffs on U.S. goods and other countermeasures. “This is a game of chicken,” Yasheng Huang, professor of global economics and management at MIT, told ABC News.

China is not negotiating with the Trump administration over tariffs, Beijing declared, despite the White House saying it was "setting the stage" for a deal.

China standoff over high tariff levels that amount to a mutual trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies.