At Tuesday's meeting here of the Sino-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), the two sides will review a familiar litany of bilateral headaches in the politically sensitive relationship.

US Trade Representative Rob Portman and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez are expected to press China for more currency flexibility, more protection of intellectual property rights and more market access, officials said.

"We expect the meeting to deliver on some important objectives, but China has a tremendous amount of work to do given the imbalance in our relationship," Portman's spokeswoman Christin Baker said.

Sitting on the other side of the table, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi may dangle the carrot of lucrative business contracts that are being harvested in advance of President Hu's landmark visit from April 18 to 22.

Wu, one of China's most experienced trade negotiators, sought to play down the tensions while in Los Angeles on Thursday.

"The friction in Sino-US trade relations is normal," the China News Service quoted her as saying.

"Both sides must remain sincere and face up to the contradictions, and as long as we remain objective and maintain the spirit of consultations on an equal footing we can positively resolve the problems."

Wu's delegation signed 27 contracts with companies in Los Angeles, according to Chinese state press reports which said deals worth up to 15 billion dollars could be expected in a buying spree ahead of Hu's tour.

That will be welcome to the US government, which is under mounting pressure from Congress to redress the country's exploding trade deficit with China.

At 202 billion dollars last year, the US deficit with China was the largest ever recorded in the history of bilateral trade.

The deficit would be less if China stopped artificially skewing the value of its currency to prop up its exports, many in Congress and US industry argue.