US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he is looking forward to trade talks with China, as discussions in Beijing moved to a higher level in a push to de-escalate a tariff war ahead of a March 1 deadline for a deal.
The talks, scheduled to run on Thursday and Friday, follow three days of deputy-level meetings to work out technical details, including a mechanism for enforcing any trade agreement.
"Looking forward to discussions today," Mnuchin told reporters without elaborating as he left his hotel.
He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer opened the meetings shortly afterward at the Diaoyutai state guest house with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the top economic adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
US tariffs on $US200 billion ($A281 billion) worth of imports from China are scheduled to rise to 25 per cent from 10 per cent if the two sides don't reach a deal by the deadline, increasing pressure and costs in sectors from consumer electronics to agriculture.
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the negotiations had been progressing "very well".
Trump's advisers have described March 1 as a "hard deadline", and the president has said a delay was possible though he preferred not to do so.
A Bloomberg report cited sources saying Trump was considering pushing back the deadline by 60 days to give negotiators more time.
Countering that, Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of China's nationalist Global Times tabloid, tweeted that speculation on an extension was "inaccurate", citing a source close to talks.
Trump has said he did not expect to meet with Xi prior to March 1, but White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has raised the possibility of a meeting between the leaders at the president's personal retreat at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
US Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Stephen Censky said on Wednesday that the two presidents were expected to meet "sometime in March," but no dates were set.
The Chinese government has offered few details about the state of negotiations this week.
Chinese trade data released on Thursday showed imports from the United States fell 41.2 per cent from a year earlier to $US9.24 billion ($A12.98 billion), the lowest amount in dollar terms since February 2016.
Exports to the United States also declined 2.4 per cent to $US36.54 billion ($A51.33 billion), the lowest amount since April 2018.
China's trade surplus with the United States narrowed to $US27.3 billion ($A38.4 billion) in January, from $US29.87 billion ($A41.96 billion) in December.
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