Early on Tuesday, the Chinese Commerce Ministry confirmed that top officials on the US and China trade teams held telephonic discussions to work out issues as they attempt to make progress on the phase one trade deal. According to the ministry, negotiations took place between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on the interim trade deal.

The Commerce Ministry’s statement elaborates that the high level officials had arrived at “a common understanding on resolving relevant problems”. Trade talks had been progressing well, according to officials on both sides, but had recently run into some obstacles on the issue of tariff rollbacks.

The recent legislation passed by the US Senate on protection of human rights of Hong Kong protesters also served to escalate tensions between the US and China and threatened to derail progress on trade negotiations. On Monday, China summoned US Ambassador Terry Branstad to lodge an official protest against the passing of this legislation and exhorted Trump to avoid signing it into a law.