In a possible de-escalation of the trade war that has rocked world markets, the Chinese Commerce Ministry announced on Friday that Beijing was considering a Washington offer to negotiate over US President Donald Trump’s crushing tariffs.

The ministry stated that Beijing’s door was open for negotiations and that the US has reached out to China to discuss Trump’s 145% tariffs.

The ministry said in a statement that Washington must be “sincere” in negotiations and that the US should be ready to act to “correct erroneous practices” and remove unilateral tariffs.

“The United States has recently taken the initiative on numerous times to communicate with China through appropriate parties, expressing its desire to have a conversation with them.

According to the statement, “trying to use discussions as a pretext to engage in coercion and extortion would not work.”

China has denied on several occasions that it was trying to work with the US to negotiate a way out of the tariffs.

Trump’s decision to impose 145% import charges on Beijing is reported to have occurred at a particularly challenging moment for China, which is experiencing deflation as a result of slow economic development and a protracted real estate crisis.

Beijing, meantime, has voiced its ire at the tariffs, claiming they are bullying and are powerless to halt the growth of the second-largest economy in the world.

China has apparently secretly developed a list of US-made goods it will exempt from its retaliatory 125% tariffs, including certain medications, microchips, and jet engines, in addition to using its propaganda apparatus to retaliate against the penalties.