As President Hu Jintao wound up a state visit to the United States, Chinese officials appeared to try to shift the focus away from US allegations of currency manipulation and instead stressed business promotion.

"Our two countries need to sit down and work it out so there won't be such a huge trade deficit and trade surplus," Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming told a business conference in Chicago.

Chen voiced hope that US exports to China would more than double to $200 billion by 2015 as part of $500 billion in overall trade.

"We still have work to do to get to that $200 billion," Chen said.

The latest US data showed that the US deficit with China in 2010 was likely to top the 2008 record of $268.0 billion, even though the overall US trade gap shrank in November.

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, addressing the same conference, said impediments were holding back US businesses that operate in China, including intellectual property theft and government preferences for domestic firms.

Chen, however, said China had its own complaints and pressed the case for the United States to ease restrictions on exports of advanced technology.

"We hope the US can eliminate discriminatory practices against high-tech products into China," Chen said.

Wang Chao, the vice minister of commerce, said China was shifting to an economy based on domestic consumption rather than exports, in line with exhortations by the United States and other trading partners.

"China never pursued a trade surplus. A long time ago, China began to pursue home-grown demand," he said.

US policymakers, led by members of Congress, have charged that China has kept its currency artificially low in order to boost its manufacturing sector and flood world markets with cheap goods.

Hu, in a speech in Washington on Thursday, hit back by noting US consumers have saved $600 billion in the past decade thanks to "quality yet inexpensive Chinese products."

Business leaders listening to Chen's remarks in Chicago welcomed any efforts to improve the climate for exports.

Richard Lavin, group president of Peoria, Illinois-based machinery maker Caterpillar Inc., said he was "very pleased" by the discussions during Hu's visit.

China is rapidly building infrastructure, but foreign companies complain that they are at a disadvantage as many projects are government supported and favor domestic equipment.

"The Chinese side is very clear that they are going to change the regulations to enable US companies to qualify as domestic manufacturers," Lavin said.

He also voiced confidence that China would take more action over intellectual property theft -- a concern President Barack Obama's administration has increasingly pressed.

"This is going to be more than running over several million CDs," Lavin said of China's next steps to address the problem.

Stephen Biegun, vice president for international government affairs at the Ford Motor Co., said the automaker was negotiating with China on changing safety specifications to ease costs for foreign companies.

Chen's remarks "were forward-leaning and this is exactly what we have heard in private from the Chinese government. We both want to grow Chinese exports," Biegun said.

The US Congress last year moved to punish China with tariffs if it does not let its yuan appreciate, but pressure has abated since the Republican Party won November elections.

A joint statement during the Hu-Obama summit said simply that China "will continue to promote" reform and flexibility in exchange rates.

"President Hu gave nothing, but no one should have expected a breakthrough," said Elizabeth Economy, a China expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"China will move in its own way on the issue, according to what it perceives as its own economic interests."

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