Chinese and US officials are going all out to reach a trade agreement to end  their year-long trade battle, China's commerce ministry said on Thursday, as the  two sides prepare to hold a new round of trade negotiations in Beijing after a  month-long hiatus. 

　Officials from the two countries have been making  strides in previous talks, but there are still clear divisions over several core  issues, from structural changes to compliance verification, to the fate of  tariffs, which will likely be at the top of the agenda  of this round of trade  talks on Thursday and Friday.

　The US delegation, led by US Trade  Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin,  arrived in Beijing Thursday and a working dinner with the Chinese team led by  Vice Premier Liu He is scheduled, Gao Feng, a spokesperson for the China's  Ministry of Commerce, said Thursday. Day-long negotiations are planned for  Friday.

　The two teams are making all-out efforts in serious  negotiations and moving toward implementing the important consensus reached by  the leaders of the two countries, Gao told a press briefing.

　Since  President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump agreed on a truce in December  2018, trade officials from both sides have conducted several rounds of talks in  Beijing and Washington, which have so far de-escalated the bruising tariff war.  

　Most noticeably, the US, citing substantial progress in the trade  talks, scrapped a plan to increase a 10 percent tariff on Chinese products to 25  percent on March 1. US officials have also adopted a more conciliatory tone  toward the trade negotiations in the face of growing global and domestic  pressure.

　A deal to be made

　In what experts call a show of good  faith, China has also moved to address US concerns over its trade deficit,  resuming the purchase of US soybeans and other goods. That might have  contributed to a 14.6 percent fall in the US' overall trade deficit in January,  analysts said. The US trade deficit with China also fell 6.4 percent to $34.5  billion during the month, according to official US data.

　It's safe to  say we are at a better point to reach a deal, said Bai Ming, an analyst at the  Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. We are in a  final sprint before a final deal.

　The meetings in Beijing will be  followed by talks in Washington next week. If all goes well, we could see a  trade deal very soon, said Bai.

　James Stone, former chairman of the US  Commodity Futures Trading Commission, also expressed optimism in a deal. It's  proving to take longer and harder than I thought. I will still predict that it  is so much in the interest of both countries to make a deal, and a deal will be  made, he told the Global Times.

　Every once in a while, nations get  into conflicts that are destructive to both parties. But most of the time, they  will figure out a way to find their own national interest in a deal, he said.  

　However, even as officials appear to inch closer to a final deal, there  are still some thornier issues that pose uncertainties to the ongoing talks.  

　Though we are moving toward a deal, nothing is certain until the deal  is signed, said Song Guoyou, Deputy Director of Center for American Studies and  Director of Center for Economic Diplomacy at Fudan University . Some very  important details still need to be worked out.

　Recent signs suggest  that the two sides are still far apart over certain issues, such as US claims of forced technology transfer and the fate of the tariffs the two have imposed on  each other's goods.

　In what Chinese experts call a move to test the  waters ahead of the talks, unnamed US officials told Reuters Wednesday that  China made an unprecedented proposal on technology transfer, puzzling many in  China as to what kind of proposal China could have made, since the country has repeatedly denied forcing foreign firms to transfer their technology.  

　This is the US trying to keep the pressure on China, but I don't see  what else China could do outside the new foreign investment law, Song said. The  law, adopted by China's top legislature earlier this month, prohibits government  agencies from using administrative means to force foreign firms to transfer  their technology.

　Another tricky issue is what the two sides will do  with the current tariffs on each other's goods after a trade deal. The US wants  to maintain its tariffs on Chinese goods to ensure compliance, while Chinese  officials have called for all tariffs to be lifted after a deal.

　In a  conciliatory sign, an unidentified US official was quoted by Reuters as saying  that the US may partly lift the tariffs. But China will not accept any deal that  does not result in the removal of the tariffs, experts said.

　This is  far from over, given the high stakes for both sides. They will fight until the  very end for what's best for them, Song said.

　(Correspondent: Wang Cong, Source:  Global Times, Zhou Zheng contributed to this story)