Reuters/Carlos Barria

Chinese officials would like to hold further talks with the US before the preliminary agreement the Trump administration touted on Friday is finalized, according to Bloomberg.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin confirmed early Monday that there were still several meetings the two sides planned to take before a pact might be made official.

With details on core trade issues still elusive, officials said they did not expect to have the text of the agreement ready for several weeks.

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Chinese officials would reportedly like to hold further trade talks with the US before the preliminary agreement the Trump administration touted on Friday is finalized.

Bloomberg reported Monday that China could send a trade delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He to hammer out details of what President Donald Trump has called a "substantial phase one" deal, which sought to ease trade tensions between the two sides. The White House did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

The Trump administration said last week that China agreed to increase agricultural purchases, make unspecified adjustments to its intellectual property rules, and open its financial services market. That was in return for the postponement of tariff hikes on Chinese products that had been scheduled to take effect this week.

But with details on core trade issues still elusive, officials said they did not expect to have the text of the agreement ready for several weeks.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin confirmed on CNBC early Monday that there were still several meetings the two sides planned to take before a pact might be made official, potentially at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile in November.

"I expect we'll have a deal," Mnuchin said, adding that it was "subject to documentation." If an agreement was not reached by December 15, he said tariffs would be expanded to nearly all imports from China.

Over the weekend, Trump defended the agreement to critics who viewed it as weak and said it included concessions China had already offered in previous months. He attempted to placate farmers who have been hurt by retaliatory tariffs levied last year, which sent agricultural exports and prices sharply lower.

"My deal with China is that they will IMMEDIATELY start buying very large quantities of our Agricultural Product, not wait until the deal is signed over the next 3 or 4 weeks," the president wrote on Twitter. "THEY HAVE ALREADY STARTED! Likewise financial services and other deal aspects, start preparing...."

He added: "....I agreed not to increase Tariffs from 25% to 30% on October 15th. They will remain at 25%. The relationship with China is very good. We will finish out the large Phase One part of the deal, then head directly into Phase Two. The Phase One Deal can be finalized & signed soon!"

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