President Donald Trump has said the US and China will “very shortly” resume trade talks after a weekend of escalating tension with Beijing.

“China called last night… said let’s get back to the table. So we’ll be getting back to the table,” he said.

On Friday Mr Trump sharply hiked tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese imports in retaliation for fresh duties from Beijing.

China has yet to comment but earlier called for “calm” to resolve the row.

Mr Trump sent out conflicting messages over the weekend, at first appearing to express regret about the latest tariffs, only for the White House to retract his comments on Sunday.

However, at the G7 summit in Biarritz on Monday he said Chinese officials had made two “very, very good calls” on Sunday night and that Beijing wanted to “make a deal”.

Suggesting his pressure had brought the Chinese back to the negotiating table, he added: “They hurt very badly, but they understand this is the right thing to do.

“We’re going to start very shortly to negotiate… but I think we’re going to make a deal.”

The US is trying to force Beijing to reform its trade practices, arguing that American firms face an uneven playing field due to issues such as intellectual property theft.

However, US allies have pressured Mr Trump at the G7 summit in France, warning that the trade war is threatening the global economy.

Earlier on Monday Asian stock markets tumbled over concerns about the trade war, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index losing more than 3% before regaining ground.

However, European shares climbed after Mr Trump’s more conciliatory comments and US markets opened between 0.7% and 1% higher, having fallen sharply on Friday.

How has the trade war escalated?

On Friday, the US said it would begin the process of raising tariffs on around $250bn (£203.8bn) of Chinese imports from 25% to 30% from 1 October.

The US also said fresh tariffs on an additional $300bn of Chinese goods, announced earlier this month, would now be at a rate of 15% instead of 10%. The first batch of those tariffs will be introduced in September.

In a tweet, Mr Trump said he planned to order US firms working in China to move their operations back to the US, although it is unclear how he could force them to comply.

The moves came after China delivered its latest trade war strike, announcing plans to hit $75bn worth of US goods with new tariffs and hikes to existing duties.