China says negotiations in the U.S. concerning joint efforts to increase the capacity of steel

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The statement issued a day after the talks by the Chinese embassy in Washington did not elaborate on the measures discussed by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan on Wednesday.

The embassy said in a statement, in that breakout session, the two sides had focused their discussion on steel, aluminum and high-tech trade.

Late on Wednesday, a Trump administration official told Reuters that China had refused to agree to U.S. demands that it eliminate excess steel capacity and take other steps to open its economy for foreign firms.

The first annual economic summit between the Trump administration and their Chinese counterparts ended with canceled news conferences, no joint statement and no new transaction announcements.

In a statement, the Chinese embassy also stated that China had agreed to "deepen our cooperation" with the United States to expand trade in services.

China trade experts said, both sides found each other harder to deal with than expected.

Expectations of the Trump’s team that Beijing would agree to quick, substantial reforms aimed at reducing the trade deficit of the U.S. and the elimination of excess capacity in steel production were dashed, while China found that further small steps and vague action plans would not soothe the United States.