SHANGHAI: US and Chinese officials traded barbs at a celebration held by a US business chamber in Shanghai on Friday, as the chamber appealed to both countries to provide more certainty to American businesses operating in China.

Scott Walker, consul general of US consulate in Shanghai, told a gathering of US businesses aimed at celebrating the 110th anniversary of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Shanghai that the US-China economic relationship had been unbalanced and non-reciprocal "for far too long."

"We want an end to discriminatory actions and retaliation against US companies in China," he said.

In a speech that directly followed Walker's, Chen Jing, a Shanghai Communist Party official who is also the president of the Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, countered Walker's view.

"I believe the consul general's view is prejudiced, ungrounded and not aligning with the phone call of our heads of states last night," he said.

The interaction reflects the continued strained relationship between both countries as the trade war continues to simmer.