US and Chinese officials have ended two days of talks aimed at easing trade tensions without a clear breakthrough, ensuring the commercial dispute between Washington and Beijing that is roiling the global economy will rumble on. At the end of the negotiations on Thursday evening in Washington, Lindsay Walters, the White House deputy press secretary, said the two sides had “exchanged views on how to achieve fairness, balance and reciprocity in the economic relationship” but gave no indication that any serious progress had been made. Her remarks came shortly after separate discussions between the US and Mexico to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement also failed to produce a deal. But the Nafta talks were extended into the weekend, raising the prospect that significant advances could still be made. There were low expectations surrounding the negotiations with Beijing, but the talks marked the first timid attempt to patch up differences on trade between the US and China since June, when economic relations between the two countries soured, leading to an escalation of the tariff battle.