US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez held talks Tuesday with Chinese officials on trade-related issues ahead of a possible vote by the US Senate to sanction Chinese goods.

US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez gestures during his speech at Chongqing University in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality Monday, March 27, 2006. Gutierrez, who arrived in Chongqing on Sunday night to start a five-day trip to China, called on China to open its markets to foreign goods and settle currency disputes, warning that it could face protectionist sentiment in the United States if its record trade surplus keeps growing in the speech. [AP]

Gutierrez met with Commerce Minister Bo Xilai but no details of their talks were immediately released. Gutierrez was due to meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Gutierrez said ahead of the meetings that he would bring up the issues of China's crackdown on piracy and Beijing's foreign exchange rate regime.

The US government has been pressuring Beijing to hike the value of its currency, the yuan, against the dollar, in the hope to set a higher barrier to hold back inexpensive Chinese goods from entering US market.

The US Senate faces a Friday deadline to vote on a proposal to impose 27.5 percent tariffs on Chinese goods.

The two authors of the proposal, Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham, visited China last week to talk with Chinese officials and discuss product piracy and other trade-related issues.

Before their departure, the two senators said they would continue their campaign until Beijing takes concrete steps to allow its currency, the yuan, to trade more freely.

China revalued yuan by 2.1 percent on last July, depegging it from the dollar and allowing the yuan to float in a managed bands that is linked to a group of major currencies. 

The yuan has risen by nearly 1 percent since then, but Washington alleged the rate still undervalues the Chinese currency and gives the country a competitive advantage in trade.

Gutierrez warned in a speech Monday at a Chinese university that Beijing risks inflaming protectionist sentiment in the United States if it lets its record trade surplus keep growing.

The Bush administration of US is under pressure to rein in a bilateral deficit that on US figures reached $201.6 billion in 2005. China, which counts Hong Kong trade separately, put its calculated surplus with the United States last year at $114.2 billion.

"We don't want it to become so big that what happens is that people who want to isolate the US and who want to be protectionist may find a welcoming ear in the American people," Gutierrez said in the speech at Chongqing University in southwestern China.