Beijing's commerce ministry previously said Vice Premier He Lifeng would lead a delegation to Malaysia until Monday for talks with the United States.

The world's two biggest economies are seeking to avoid further escalating a damaging tit-for-tat tariff war, with US President Donald Trump expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea next Thursday.

The US president has made it clear he hopes to seal a "good" deal with China and end the trade war, even though he previously threatened to cancel the meeting, happening on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, starting October 31.

The official Xinhua news agency announced on Saturday morning the start of the trade talks in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur, reporting that the Chinese and US delegations had "convened".

Beijing announced this month sweeping controls on the critical rare earths industry, prompting Trump to threaten 100 percent tariffs on imports from China in retaliation.

The two countries also began charging arrival fees on each other's ships, sparked by a US "Section 301" investigation that found Beijing's dominance in the industry was unreasonable.