Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (C) with United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (R) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (L) pose for photos before holding talks at the Xijiao Conference Center in Shanghai on July 31, 2019

BEIJING — China emphasized Thursday that the U.S. must remove tariffs in order for the two countries to reach a final agreement on trade, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said.

"China's position, principle and goal for the China-U.S. trade negotiations has never changed," Gao said in Mandarin at a weekly press conference, according to a CNBC translation.

"Both sides' ultimate goal for the negotiations is to end the trade war, cancel all additional tariffs," he said. "This is good for China, good for the U.S. and good for the world."

The two economic giants have been embroiled in a trade dispute for more than a year, with each country applying tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of goods from the other.