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By David Lauder

PARIS, March 15 (Reuters) - Top economic officials from the United States and China began a new round of talks in Paris on Sunday aimed at resolving disputes surrounding a trade truce between the two countries and setting the stage for U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of March.

The discussions, led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bisent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, are expected to focus on adjusting U.S. tariffs, the flow of rare earth minerals and magnets produced in China to U.S. buyers, U.S. controls on the export of advanced technology, and China’s purchases of U.S. agricultural products.

A U.S. Treasury official said talks between the two sides began Sunday morning at the OECD headquarters in Paris and are expected to continue Monday . China is not a member of the 38-member forum of mostly wealthy democracies, as it considers itself a developing country.

U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer, who is participating in the talks, said before leaving for Paris that U.S. officials want to ensure stability in U.S.-China relations.

"We want to make sure that we continue to get the rare earth elements we need for our manufacturing base, that they continue to buy the things they should buy from us, and that the two presidents have an opportunity to meet and make sure that the relationship is moving in the direction we want," Greer added on Friday via CNBC.

The talks come as a continuation of a series of meetings held in European cities last year aimed at easing tensions that threatened a near-total collapse of trade between the world's two largest economies.

Analysts specializing in US-China trade say that with limited time to prepare and Washington's focus on the US-Israeli war against Iran, the chances of a major trade breakthrough remain limited, whether in the Paris talks or at the upcoming Beijing summit.

Scott Kennedy, a China economist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said, "I think both sides have a minimum objective of having a meeting, which goes a long way toward keeping things together and avoiding a break or a renewed escalation of tensions."

Kennedy added that Trump might want to return from Beijing with big Chinese commitments to buy new Boeing aircraft, and to buy more liquefied natural gas and American soybeans, but to achieve that he might need to make some concessions on U.S. export controls.

Trump is likely to meet with Xi three more times this year, including at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit hosted by China in November and the G20 summit hosted by the United States in December, which may produce tangible progress.

The issue of a potential US-Israeli war on Iran is likely to be raised in the Paris talks, particularly in light of rising oil prices and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which China imports 45 percent of its oil. On Thursday, Pessent announced a 30-day sanctions waiver to allow the sale of Russian oil stranded at sea on tankers, a move aimed at increasing supplies.

On Saturday, Trump urged other countries to help protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, after Washington bombed military targets at the Iranian oil loading hub on Kharg Island, and Iran threatened to retaliate.

China's official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary published Sunday that "tangible" progress in economic cooperation between China and the United States could restore confidence to the increasingly fragile global economy.