President Donald Trumpwith Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Japan late last month, delaying a major tariff escalation that had been planned. The US loosened a ban on telecommunications giant Huawei, while Trump said that China agreed to purchase more American agricultural products.
But there has been little evidence of progress on issues that stalled the last round of talks, and those are expected to loom large as senior negotiators from the largest economies speak by phone this week.
Among the sticking points, the two sides have struggled to see eye to eye on how to enforce structural changes in the second-largest economy. US officials want China to change its domestic laws, a move they view as necessary to address issues such as intellectual property theft and the forced transfer of foreign technology.
"We thought we had commitments and those commitments were removed," White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC on Tuesday."Our team has time and time again asked for a change in Chinese laws. And resistance has mounted on the other side." But conceding to legislative changes could be a tall order for Xi as he seeks to retain a tough appearance at home. US officials have also suggested that tariffs could be used as an enforcement mechanism, which China has indicated. The two sides have together placed levies on roughly $360 billion worth of each other's products.