U.S. and Chinese officials will try to ease trade tensions and bridge differences on Wednesday in annual economic talks that trade experts say will likely yield some small-scale agreements to grant U.S. firms more access to some of China's markets.
But the talks are not expected to solve larger problems, such as U.S. complaints about China's excess capacity in steel and aluminum and subsidies for state-owned enterprises, nor China's complaints about U.S. refusals to sell Beijing advanced technology products.
"What I think we will see is an attempt by both sides to be able to declare victory by coming up with a few very specific areas in which China agrees to open up its markets more and which the U.S. can claim as victories," said Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University and a former China division chief at the International Monetary Fund.
