A new round of high-level economic and trade consultations, headed by United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on the US side, will kick off on March 28 in Beijing, the White House confirmed on Saturday.

"At the direction of President Donald J. Trump, United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing, China, for principal-level meetings starting on March 28, 2019, to continue negotiations aimed at improving the trade relationship between the United States and China," the White House Press Secretary said in a statement.

The United States principals will be accompanied by Deputy USTR Jeffrey Gerrish and other senior officials from the USTR Office and the Department of the Treasury.

"The United States looks forward to welcoming a delegation from China led by Vic-Premier Liu He for meetings in Washington starting on April 3," the statement said.

The message echoed an announcement by China's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday that the two sides will start the eighth round of trade talks in Beijing, followed by the ninth round in Washington early next month.

The two sides have recently had several phone conversations on economic and trade issues and agreed on the schedule, according to ministry spokesman Gao Feng.

Negotiations led by Vice-Premier Liu and USTR Lighthizer from Feb 21 to 24 in Washington yielded "substantial progress" on specific issues such as technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights, non-tariff barriers, services industry, agriculture and exchange rates, according to a statement from the Chinese delegation.