WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama met with Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner on Sunday in a bid to find ways to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff", the White House said.

"This afternoon, the president and Speaker Boehner met at the White House to discuss efforts to resolve the fiscal cliff," the White House said in a statement released after the meeting.

But the White House declined to disclose the details of the conversation, only saying that "the lines of communication remain open".

Obama and Boehner have been negotiating on how to avoid the automatic spending cuts and tax hikes that will come into effect at the beginning of next year.

On Friday, Boehner said that he had an "unproductive" phone conversation with Obama over the issue. At a Capitol Hill news conference following the phone call, Boehner accused Obama of adopting "a deliberate strategy to slow-walk" the economy toward the "fiscal cliff" and demanded that Obama provide a new offer to avert it.

With the "fiscal cliff" deadline less than three weeks away, the Democrats and Republicans remain deadlocked on how to avoid it. Obama continues to insist on higher tax rates for top earners while Republicans press for spending cuts in entitlement programs.