By Laurie Chen, Michael Martina BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -When the leaders of some of the world's largest companies flocked to Beijing for a business forum last month, their main purpose was a coveted meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The Chinese foreign ministry on Monday, said President Xi Jinping had not spoken to Donald Trump recently, nor were their respective administrations trying to strike a tariff deal. This is in contradiction to the US president’s claim in an interview with Time magazine that he and the Chinese president had spoken.