BEIJING: Trade officials from the US and China have held "candid, pragmatic" talks, China's commerce ministry said Thursday, their first discussions under the Biden era as Washington scrutinises whether Beijing is holding up its end of a trade pact.

A bruising trade war under President Donald Trump saw punitive tariffs lumped on a range of goods sold between the world's two biggest economies.

The two countries signed a so-called "phase 1" agreement in January 2020, in which Beijing pledged to increase its purchases of American products and services by at least $200 billion over 2020 and 2021.

But top US trade negotiator Katherine Tai has said she is analysing whether the terms of that pact have been met by China, with some experts saying Beijing is falling up to 40 percent short on its agreement to buy US goods.

On Thursday, China's commerce ministry statement said Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and Tai spoke in "constructive exchanges in an attitude of equality and mutual respect".

Under the agreement, the pair are meant to check in every six months on the progress of the agreement.

The "phase one" deal aimed to end a damaging two-year trade war launched by former president Trump, which battered relations between the two countries.

It commits China to buying tens of billions of dollars' worth of American agricultural goods, energy and services in exchange for slashing Trump-era tariffs on $120 billion of Chinese exports. However, a 25 percent levy on a further $250 billion of Chinese goods remains.