China's foreign ministry said on Monday the presidents of China the United States "didn't have a call recently," when asked about Donald Trump saying in an interview with Time magazine that Xi Jinping has called him.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has not spoken to US President Donald Trump on the phone recently, Beijing said Monday, reiterating that no talks are taking place between the two countries to resolve their tariff war.

The Treasury secretary said that the President Trump and Xi Jinping of China have a good relationship but that he was not aware of a call, which Mr. Trump had alluded to last week.

President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught has roiled Washington and Wall Street for nearly a month. If the trade war persists, the next upheaval will hit much closer to home.

Members of Donald Trump's cabinet gave conflicting messages on Sunday about whether negotiations with China over tariffs are taking place, as the Republican president has asserted. The Trump administration signaled openness last week to de-escalating a trade war between the world's two largest economies that has raised fears of recession.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday did not back President Donald Trump's assertion that tariff talks with China were under way and said he did not know if the U.S. president had talked to Chinese President Xi Jinping.