China and the US resolved several thorny trade disputes yesterday even as Beijing confirmed it was investigating potential dumping of US-made cars in the Chinese market.

At a high-level meeting of officials from both countries in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, China said it would allow US pork imports and relax restrictions on wind power components and government procurement.

The meeting yesterday comes three weeks before the first visit to China of Barack Obama, US president, and against a backdrop of persistent trade tensions, concerns about the strength of the US economy and renewed criticism of China's currency policy.

Mr Obama imposed a 35 per cent duty last month on imports of Chinese tyres. Beijing responded by launching anti-dumping investigations into imports of US car parts and poultry.

Chen Deming, China's commerce minister, said yesterday that Beijing would investigate imports of US-made cars to China as a result of the huge state financial aid that Washington had given this year to General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

However, lawyers said that the new car probe was mostly symbolic given the modest size of the imports at around 40,000 vehicles a year. General Motors said it had sold 13,859 imported cars in China so far this year, compared with total sales in China of 1.29m vehicles in the first nine months.

Mr Chen said the US side acknowledged that placing new curbs on Chinese imports was not the best way to deal with China's large trade surplus. “The two have agreed that the solution to the trade gap between the United States and China is not to restrict imports from China but to promote balance,” he said.

He added that the US had agreed to set up a joint working group to analyse the issue of awarding “market economy status” to China. This perennial demand from Beijing would make it harder for the US to accuse China of dumping.

Chinese officials said Beijing would lift a ban on imports of pork from the US which had been in place since the outbreak of swine flu in the spring, although they did not say exactly when imports would start.

“I hope pork imports can resume quickly, but I also hope that the US will follow Chinese requirements to credibly ensure the quality, safety and health of pork imports to China,” said Sun Zhengcai, China's agriculture minister.

Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration, said China would remove its local content requirement in tenders for wind power equipment, potentially giving US companies better access to China's booming wind power market.

Ron Kirk, US trade representative, said China had agreed to treat joint venture companies involving the two countries as local businesses in government procurement contracts, one of the priorities of US businesses in this round of talks. China would also submit an offer to join the World Trade Organisation's government procurement agreement by 2010, he said.