Donald Trump, the US president, vowed to hold a phone call “soon” with Xi Jinping, his Chinese counterpart, as he suggested that the trade war raging between the world’s largest economies would be “fairly short”. 

In comments made as he left New Jersey for a rally in New Hampshire on Thursday evening, Mr Trump sought to ease concerns about the economic confrontation with Beijing and said face-to-face negotiations between top officials of the two countries were on track to resume next month. 

Mr Trump and his advisers have been on the defensive since the White House’s announcement in early August that the US would slap 10 per cent tariffs on $300bn of additional Chinese imports later this year — a move that triggered strong equity market losses and increased fears of a global economic slowdown.