Under the agreement, signed in January, China commits to increase US goods purchases. The Trump administration is already considering imposing sanctions on China over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic during its early stages.

Trump confirmed China was purchasing American farm goods, but he was unsure whether it was buying enough to meet the agreement’s commitments on US agricultural and manufactured goods, energy and services.

The US president said: “I’ll be able to report in about a week or two as to – not only with the farmers, but with many other industries also.

“They understand they have a deal and hopefully they’re going to get with the deal and we’ll see.

“They may. They may not. We’re going to find out.”

China agreed to boost purchases of US goods from a 2017 baseline by $200 billion over two years, with about $77 billion in increased purchases in the first year and $123 billion in the second year.

However, the sudden pandemic crisis damaged China’s economy so severely it is only starting to recover.

The Republican president’s claims to report on China’s actions come as both countries are disagree over the origins of the pandemic.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo maintains that the outbreak originated in a laboratory in China.

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Mr Pompeo said: “We’re all trying to get to clarity. There are different levels of certainty assessed at different places.

“That’s highly appropriate. People stare at data sets and come to different levels of confidence.”

“The rapport that seemed to have developed between the two countries during their trade talks is now just a distant memory,” the state-controlled China Daily wrote in an editorial on Thursday.

“Despite the positive outcome of those discussions and the constructive interaction that the negotiations incubated, it is Washington’s dirty politics of always blame China that has discouraged the world’s two largest economies from standing shoulder to shoulder to fight the contagion, even though it is a common enemy.”

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Washington has promised to begin negotiations with Beijing on a Phase 2 trade deal discussing government aid and problematic technology transfer concerns.

The talks were set aside when the coronavirus pandemic paralysed the US.

US officials said they are considering imposing sanctions on China, such as possible tariffs and plans to move supply chains away from China.

Asked about these at a White House briefing, Trump said: “We’re in the midst of some very big things, so I just don’t want to talk about that now.”

But comments by White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday revealed an escalating between Washington and Beijing.

“Right now it is a relationship of disappointment and frustration,” Ms McEnany said.

”The president has said how frustrated he is at some of the decisions of China that put American lives at risk.”

The China Daily editorial urged Washington to avoid a threatening stance.

“Yet it does not have to be this way,” it said.

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