File photo: US President Donald Trump
A senior Trump administration official on Friday dismissed as untrue a media report that U.S. President Donald Trump was readying a possible trade deal with China, a CNBC reporter said in a post on Twitter.
"There is a long way to go," on negotiations, the unnamed official told CNBC's Eamon Javers, according to his tweet.
NEW: A senior administration official tells me that the report president Trump is ready to cut a trade deal with China is not true. “There is a long way to go” on negotiations, the official said.
Earlier on Friday, Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Trump wanted to reach an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping and had asked key U.S. officials to begin drafting potential terms for a deal.
Reuters could not immediately confirm either report, and White House officials did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the Bloomberg report.
Still, world share markets soared on Friday amid growing hopes that the world's two largest economies are starting to repair their badly damaged trade relations following a conversation held by Trump and Xi on Thursday.
The two spoke by telephone in what both sides described as an positive call, their first known direct discussion in several months. Trump, in a tweet after their talk, said he planned for the two leaders to meet at the G20 summit in Argentina later this month.
Neither leader gave any details about possible progress.
The Bloomberg News report said it was unclear if Trump was easing up on demands that China has resisted, and it cited one person as saying intellectual property theft was a sticking point on a possible deal.
Hours after the call, the U.S. Justice Department accused another Chinese company of unfair practices, part of an across-the-board pressure campaign by the Trump administration targeting China.
Trump administration officials have said U.S.-China trade talks cannot resume until Beijing outlines specific actions it would take to meet U.S. demands for sweeping changes to policies on technology transfers, industrial subsidies and market access.
The two countries have imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other's goods and Trump has threatened to extend the tariffs to the remainder of China's $500 billion-plus exports to the United States if the disputes cannot be resolved.
Tesla Inc said on Friday that is developing plans to start producing about 3,000 Model 3 vehicles per week in Shanghai in the initial phase of its Gigafactory 3 to reduce the impact of tariffs.The company also said in a filing that Model S and Model X sales in China have been, and will likely continue to be, hurt by recently increased tariffs imposed by the Chinese government on U.S.-manufactured vehicles.The electric carmaker said it continues to push to increase Model 3 production to about 10,000 units per week.Tesla also expects to continue to increase its Model 3 production rate to about 7,000 units per week at its Fremont, California factory.China is the largest market for electric vehicles, and most forecasters predict that electric vehicle sales in the country will accelerate rapidly as government regulation drives toward a goal of 100-percent electric vehicles by 2030. US oil sanctions on Iran threaten 'paralyzed' economyChina promises Pakistan support as Khan tells of 'very difficult' economyChina says Xi-Trump call was quite positive
Tesla seeks to reduce tariff impact for Model 3 by making cars in China
China promised to support Pakistan's economy on Friday as new Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan told of his country's "very difficult" economic situation amid a burgeoning financial crisis.Pakistan's foreign reserves have plunged 42 percent since the start of the year and now stand at about $8 billion, or less than two months of import cover.Last month, Pakistan received a $6 billion rescue package from Saudi Arabia, but officials say it is not enough and the country still plans to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avert a balance of payments crisis.It would be Pakistan's 13th rescue package from the multilateral lender since the late 1980s.Pakistan: Talks falter, more Aasia Bibi protests loomMeeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Khan said he'd come to China to learn."My party has only been in power for two months. Unfortunately we have inherited a very difficult economic situation," Khan said."Countries go in cycles. They have their high points, they have their low points. Unfortunately, our country is going through a low point at the moment with two very big deficits, a fiscal deficit and a current account deficit. And so we, as I’ve said, have come to learn."Xi told Khan that he highly valued the two country's relations, reaffirming they were "all-weather" friends.Video: Imran Khan meets China's Xi in first official visit to Beijing"I attach great importance to China-Pakistan relations and am willing to work together with the prime minister to strengthen the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic partnership and build a new era of China-Pakistan destiny," Xi said.Neither man mentioned any economic aid in comments made in front of reporters.However, the Chinese government's top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, told Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a separate meeting that China would not let Pakistan down."The Chinese side will continue to provide support and help to the best of its ability for Pakistan's economic and social development and national construction," China's Foreign Ministry cited Wang as saying, without giving details.Khan will meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Saturday, when the two countries are expected to sign a series of agreements.Though China is Pakistan's closest ally, Khan's newly elected government has sought to re-think the two countries' signature project, the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which Beijing touts as the flagship infrastructure programme in its vast Belt and Road Initiative.Pakistan has sought to amend CPEC to put greater emphasis on projects that focus on social development, rather than purely on infrastructure.After visiting Beijing, Khan is set to be a key note speaker at a major import fair in Shanghai, an event being touted by China as an opportunity to show the world the country welcomes foreign companies and their products.Khan is in China amid unrest at home over the acquittal of a Pakistani Christian woman on death row for blasphemy, which has prompted an ultra-Islamist party to block roads in protest. 
China promises Pakistan support as Khan tells of 'very difficult' economy
China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that the previous day’s telephone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump was quite positive.The two heads of state think they should enhance trade relations, ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing.Trump asks officials to draft possible trade deal with China
China says Xi-Trump call was quite positive