"I think it's a very friendly meeting. They look forward to doing it in an elegant way," Trump said of the talks with China. China's Vice Foreign Minister Hua Chunying also struck a confident note ahead of the talks, saying Beijing has "full confidence" in its ability to manage trade issues with the US. Officials in both Washington and Beijing are "under growing economic pressure", Dan Wang from political risk consultancy Eurasia Group told the BBC. "The recent signals from both sides suggest a transactional de-escalation is on the table", she added. The announcement earlier this week of the talks was welcomed as an important first step towards easing tensions but analysts have warned that this marks the start of what are likely to be lengthy negotiations. "The systemic frictions between the US and China will not be resolved any time soon," said former US trade negotiator, Stephen Olson. Any cuts to tariffs as a result of this meeting are likely to be "minor", he added. The initial negotiations will be led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China's Vice Premier and economic tsar He Lifeng. But "I think everyone recognises that any final deal will require the active engagement of both presidents," Mr Olson said. Another trade expert said that even if the new tariffs imposed by Trump were lifted, the two countries would still have major issues to overcome. "A realistic goal is probably at best a pullback from the sky-high bilateral tariffs but that would still leave in place high tariff barriers and various other restrictions", the former head of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) China division, Eswar Prasad told BBC News. On Friday, official figures for April showed China's exports to the US fell by more than 20% compared to a year earlier. But at the same time its total exports rose by a better-than-expected 8.1%.