The Trump administration’s position is that the agreement must change China’s behavior, and that there is limited room for compromise. “This president is not about half-measures,” Peter Navarro, one of Mr. Trump’s trade advisers, said in August on Fox Business. “He can’t meet the Chinese halfway on this, because if you meet them halfway, they’ll only be stealing half as much as they’re stealing and killing half as many of Americans.”

The world’s two largest economies are resuming talks after a charged few months in which the United States and China went from being on the cusp of a deal to a near-breakdown in relations.

Negotiators had almost finalized an agreement in April, and were openly talking about a meeting where their two leaders would sign the deal. But China suddenly backed away from measures that would require it to change its laws, and Mr. Trump accused Beijing of breaking the deal and moved ahead with raising tariffs on the country.

The two sides again called a truce to escalating tensions in June, when Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi met personally in Osaka, Japan, during a Group of 20 summit. But the agreement quickly vanished. Mr. Trump grew frustrated with China’s failure to buy American agricultural goods — something the Chinese said they had never agreed to — and moved to further expand his tariffs.

China’s biggest request in the trade talks had been rolling back Mr. Trump’s tariffs, but those levies are now higher than ever. And American suspicions of China’s willingness to hold to an agreement — mistrust that led the United States to insist on a complex enforcement mechanism and changes to Chinese law — have only grown.

Still, there is little downside for any party in favoring talks over action.

As long as the American economy remains strong, Mr. Trump appears to have more to lose politically by giving into a weak deal with the Chinese than he does in persisting with his current approach. He could gain even more leeway to keep things status quo this month if the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates again to help insulate the American economy from the effects of a global slowdown and Mr. Trump’s trade war.

The Chinese are increasingly skeptical of the value of making further concessions, given their concern that Mr. Trump might go back on any deal he signs. But they have taken a pragmatic approach, “recognizing that openness to dialogue and engagement might not help much, but certainly cannot hurt,” Mr. Prasad said, adding, “There is still the hope that at least with further negotiations, at least even more trade and economic tensions can be staved off.”