BEIJING/UNITED NATIONS - China's Ministry of Commerce called on the United States on Thursday to show sincerity if the US side wants to solve the trade dispute between the two countries through negotiations.

Spokesperson for the ministry He Yadong said at a press conference that China has consistently maintained a firm stance against the United States' abuse of tariff measures. He urged the US side to face up to the serious negative impact that its unilateral tariff measures have had, both on itself and the global community.

"The US side should make preparations and take actions on issues such as correcting its wrong practices and lifting the unilateral tariffs," the spokesperson said in response to a journalist's query on an upcoming high-level economic and trade meeting between the two countries.

The spokesperson urged the US side to respect international economic and trade rules, uphold fairness and justice, heed rational voices from all walks of life, and show sincerity in talks.

"We hope the US side will work with China in the same direction and address the concerns of both sides through equal consultation," the spokesperson said.

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"But if the US says one thing but does another, or even attempts to continue to coerce and blackmail under the guise of talks, China will never agree, nor will it seek to reach any agreement by sacrificing its principle and position as well as international fairness and justice," he said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday that He Lifeng, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Vice-Premier of the State Council, will visit Switzerland from May 9 to 12. During his visit, He, as China's lead person for China-US economic and trade affairs, will have a meeting with the US lead person Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Also on Thursday, a spokesperson for the United Nations said the UN hopes that the talks between China and the United States scheduled to take place in Switzerland will help the two countries move towards a more normalized trade relationship.

"We just hope that these talks will help the United States and China to move towards a more normalized relationship regarding their trade relations. As the secretary general made clear, there can be no winners in a trade war," Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said at a daily briefing.

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The UN chief "is particularly worried about the situation in terms of how a global war could affect developing countries. So any effort to avoid that would be welcome", Haq added.