Lead U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are expected to travel to Beijing this week to hold the next round of trade talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and his team of negotiators.

January’s trade talks were marked by optimism as President Donald Trump offered hopeful comments and China followed up on a promise to make additional soybean purchases. But moods soured late last week when a U.S. official suggested it to be...