Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the United States had "productive" talks with China over their trade dispute after negotiations in Beijing ended Friday with no sign that any concrete progress had been made.

Top officials from the world's two biggest economies had held two days of talks, hoping to at least create sufficient goodwill to stave off an escalation of their tariff war.

In a tweet, Mnuchin said after the talks ended that he and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had "productive meetings with China's Vice Premier Liu He," Beijing's top economic official.

The talks closed around mid-day on Friday and the delegations parted with nothing announced.

Attention then shifted to a planned meeting later Friday between the US delegation and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with markets watching for signals that the world's two economic superpowers may look to maintain a truce on damaging reciprocal tariffs.

The high-level meetings began Thursday after President Donald Trump suggested that if talks in Beijing went well he may extend his March 1 deadline for China to make significant concessions on trade before resuming the tariff onslaught.

Trump's economic advisor Larry Kudlow had earlier said Xi's willingness to meet with the US officials was a "very good sign."

Kudlow also said "the vibe is good," in characterising the talks, but said there was "no decision" yet on extending Trump's tariff truce.