Hu Jintao, the first Chinese president to visit Washington in nearly a decade, arrives in Seattle on Monday to kick off a four-day US tour that will focus heavily on the growing trade imbalances between the US and China.

Senior US officials said that, while the two countries were in agreement over what China must do to address its trade surplus with the US, which reached a record $202bn (€168bn, £116bn) last year, they were looking for clear public commitments from the Chinese president that he planned to continue the path of economic reform.