WASHINGTON—The Biden administration kicked off its trade-policy engagement with China late Friday with a virtual meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.

In the meeting, Ms. Tai raised a range of concerns including what the U.S. says have been China’s “state-led, nonmarket policies and practices” and its failure to live up to the commitments it made under the 2020 phase one trade pact signed with the Trump administration, according to senior administration officials.

In...

WASHINGTON—The Biden administration kicked off its trade-policy engagement with China late Friday with a virtual meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.

In the meeting, Ms. Tai raised a range of concerns including what the U.S. says have been China’s “state-led, nonmarket policies and practices” and its failure to live up to the commitments it made under the 2020 phase one trade pact signed with the Trump administration, according to senior administration officials.

In a statement afterward, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said the two sides acknowledged the importance of the bilateral trade relationship. The two sides also reviewed the progress made in implementing the phase one deal and agreed to consult on “certain outstanding issues,’’ without providing details.

The virtual meeting came days after Ms. Tai outlined the Biden administration’s agenda for trade regarding China, which largely builds on the strategies initiated by President Donald Trump to confront Beijing through a trade war.

That plan calls for keeping existing tariffs on Chinese imports for now while restoring the ability of U.S. importers to request relief from those levies.

A statement issued by the official Xinhua News Agency said the Chinese side asked the U.S. to remove tariffs imposed on Chinese products as well as the sanctions against Chinese companies. It also said the Chinese side clarified its position on China’s economic model and industrial policies during the call with Ms. Tai.

Both sides “agreed to resolve each other’s concerns through consultation,” the Xinhua statement said.

The resumption of trade-policy discussions comes as the two nations prepare for a long-awaited virtual summit meeting between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. National security adviser Jake Sullivan met with a top Chinese diplomat in Zurich on Wednesday to prepare for the meeting, to be conducted in coming weeks.

“We hope in this conversation and beyond, China will meet us at the table as we discuss issues of shared importance,’’ a senior administration official said Friday. “We will be prepared to utilize the full range of tools we have to protect American workers, farmers and businesses from unfair trade practices.” The official said China is increasingly explicit in its “authoritarian statecentric approach” and resistant to addressing Washington’s concern over its trade practices, such as Beijing’s use of subsidies to support domestic companies at the expense of their foreign competitors.

The phase one trade agreement set targets for Chinese purchases of U.S. manufactured and agricultural products that the U.S. says Beijing hasn’t met. The pact also calls for high-level meetings between each nation’s trade officials every six months. Ms. Tai and Mr. Liu held a brief virtual meeting in May.

Ms. Tai has stepped up her activities in recent days, having completed a six-month review of the administration’s China trade policy.

Acting on her pledge to work closely with allies to coordinate approaches toward China and to strengthen the international trading system in general, she was a co-host in a meeting with European officials last week in Pittsburgh to discuss trade and technology issues, followed by a trip to a Paris gathering of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development this week.

Ms. Tai will soon be jetting back to Europe to join a meeting of trade chiefs from the Group of 20 leading economies and visiting the World Trade Organization in Geneva.

Write to Yuka Hayashi at yuka.hayashi@wsj.com