The front-month contract slipped to its lowest since Jan. 16 at 72.48 cents.
"Cotton is down because it has been said that President Trump and President Xi will not meet before March 1st," said Keith Brown, principal at cotton brokers Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia.
"US advisor Larry Kudlow came out and said that the US and China are very far apart of any type of agreement, so we got trade fears back into the market," Brown said.
US officials said on Thursday US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are unlikely to meet before their countries' March 1 deadline to reach a trade deal.
The trade dispute between top exporter US and biggest consumer China, largely led to cotton's first yearly decline in four years in 2018.
The USDA, which has been hit by the partial shutdown of the US government, is expected to release its monthly crop supply/demand report on Feb. 8.
Total futures market volume fell by 3,686 to 48,212 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 3,529 to 249,246 contracts in the previous session.
Certificated cotton stocks eliverable as of Feb. 6 totalled 127,546 480-lb bales, unchanged from 127,546 in the previous session.