SHANGHAI — China and the United States are slated to resume their ministerial-level talks for two days from Tuesday in Shanghai, around one month after the leaders of the world's two major powers agreed to restart trade negotiations.

Washington has been recently considering easing a trade ban on Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei Technologies Co. on the basis of threat to national security and Beijing has moved to boost purchases of US farm goods, indicating the two sides may make some concessions.

But Sino-US trade spats have shown little signs of petering out soon, as the Chinese government led by President Xi Jinping is believed to be still reluctant to reform its alleged unfair trade practices despite the US demands.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are among the participants of the Shanghai talks.

Following last month's announcement of a truce in the US-China trade war on the fringes of the Group of 20 summit in Japan's western city of Osaka, US President Donald Trump promised to allow American firms to sell some components to Huawei that he has suspected has been engaged in spying activities.

In an apparent attempt to pitch his achievements, Trump also emphasised that China has agreed to buy a "tremendous" amount of agricultural products from the United States, as he has officially kicked off his 2020 re-election campaign.

Mnuchin, however, has suggested that Washington and Beijing are likely to hold talks several times to form an agreement with China.

So far, Washington has imposed 25 per cent levies on a total of US$250 billion worth of Chinese imports in response to Beijing's alleged intellectual property and technology theft. China has retaliated by taxing $110 billion worth of goods from the United States.

The Trump administration has also decided to hold off on imposing additional tariffs on Chinese imports.

Meanwhile, Trump, who has pursued trade protectionist policies as part of an "America First" agenda, has put pressure on China to take steps to curb its massive trade surplus with the United States. — KYODO