US President Donald Trump's forthcoming visit to China might lead to breakthroughs in trade and economic relations between the two countries and there is "a good chance" that the US will drop the 301 investigation against China, a former US trade negotiator said.

Deborah Lehr, who was a lead negotiator for China's WTO accession at the Office of the US Trade Representative and former director of Asian Affairs at the US National Security Council, said whether the US would drop the investigation will depend on the progress made by the two sides over the next six months.

Hopes are that political issues such as the situation on the Korean Peninsula will not spill over into the economic sphere, said Lehr, who is now the chief executive of Basilinna, a strategic business consulting firm focused on China and the Middle East.