The Trump administration is weighing options to crack down on shipments of contraband goods from China, adding a new point of friction with Beijing on the eve of a pivotal round of trade talks.

The White House has been considering an executive order that would increase inspections on parcels from China to detect any illegal contents, according to people familiar with the matter. Administration officials have consulted with big logistics companies as it refines the plan.

“China sends the US close to 1m small air parcels a day, and a disturbingly high per cent appear to contain contraband ranging from counterfeit goods to deadly fentanyl and other opioids,” Peter Navarro, the White House trade and manufacturing policy adviser, said on Wednesday.

“Options are being evaluated through the inter-agency process to address a significant problem that steals our intellectual property, harms our manufacturers and workers, and kills Americans with deadly drugs,” he added.

The White House did not comment on details of the plan. “It would be premature at this point, however, to presume any specific solutions as the policy process continues. Input from stakeholders about how to stem this tide of contraband has been most welcome,” Mr Navarro said.

Senior US officials are set to host Liu He, China’s vice-premier, for a new round of negotiations in Washington starting on Thursday, in a bid to reach a truce that could avert higher tariffs due to kick in on October 15 on $250bn worth of Chinese goods.

But the run-up to the talks has been shaken by the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, the furore over the NBA’s stance on the Hong Kong protests and moves by the US to blacklist Chinese technology companies used in surveillance in the Xinjiang region. Washington has also imposed visa bans on Chinese officials linked to human rights violations in the province of western China, where millions of Uighurs ad other Muslim minority groups have been have been held in mass detention centres.

China hawks in the Trump administration have advocated taking tougher measures against Beijing in a range of industries, both to increase leverage during the trade talks and potentially “decouple” the world’s two largest economies.

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But Chinese and US negotiators are still hoping to reach an “interim” accord this week that would give Mr Trump a justification to delay the next round of tariff increases. That could pave the way for a potentially broader settlement when the US president is expected to meet Xi Jinping at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile in mid-November.

As part of an interim trade deal, similar to that agreed between the US and Japan last month, Chinese negotiators have offered to increase annual purchases of American soyabeans by about 50 per cent to 30m tonnes. They have also agreed in principle to dozens of changes to import procedures, such as strict sanitary and phytosanitary rules, that US officials say are used to discriminate against American exporters.

However, it is unclear if Mr Trump would agree to delay the next round of tariffs in exchange for such a relatively narrow deal that does not include Chinese concessions in “core” areas such as industrial policy and state-owned enterprise reform. If the talks do go well, Mr Liu is expected to meet the US president on Friday.

Wilbur Ross, the US commerce secretary, will say in a speech on Thursday in Sydney that the trade war had forced Beijing to change its approach.

“We do not love tariffs, in fact we would prefer not to use them, but after years of discussions and no action, tariffs are finally forcing China to pay attention to our concerns” Mr Ross will say.

Additional reporting by Jamie Smyth in Sydney

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