The United States and China hold cabinet-level trade talks in California this week amid tensions over China's massive export surplus and worries about the slowing global economy.
The talks come in the sunset of George W. Bush's Republican presidency that has seen trade disputes with China over a host of issues, ranging from copyright infringement, automobile parts and investment barriers to toxic toys and pet food.
The latest attempt to get the World Trade Organization's Doha Round of negotiations off the ground foundered in July, leaving the world's largest economy and Asia's superpower squared off in their corners.
US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, the lead negotiator at the July Doha talks in Geneva, will host Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan for the one-day meeting Tuesday.
Gutierrez and Schwab will co-chair the talks with Wang, who is responsible for Chinese economic and trade matters. US Secretary of Agriculture Edward Schafer will also participate in the session.
The talks will focus on three main issues -- "market access, intellectual property rights and transparency," Commerce Department spokeswoman Ann Marie Hauser told AFP late Friday.