US President Donald Trump has announced that he would be delaying an increase in tariffs against China after recent talks between the two nations made "substantial progress", and plans to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to reach a final deal to end a trade war.

The US and China have been locked in an escalating trade spat since early 2018, raising import tariffs on each other's goods. Trump and Xi agreed to halt any further tariff increases for 90 days beginning January 1. Tariffs on a wide range of Chinese imports into the US were set to rise from 10 per cent to 25 per cent this Friday. Trump cited progress made during trade talks in Washington DC last week as a reason to delay the tariff increase.