Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser in Jimmy Carter's administration, described Hu's visit as "the most important top-level US-China encounter since Deng Xiaoping's historic trip more than 30 years ago", in a column he wrote for The New York Times earlier this month.

The Chicago Tribune said that the two nations are emphasizing cooperation after a difficult year in 2010. 

CNN described relations between Beijing and Washington as being at a "critical juncture", but added that the US does not view China as a threat.

Nicholas Platt, president emeritus of the Asia Society, said that strategic trust, which he described as a buzzword among intellectuals and the foreign policy community, was a goal worth achieving.

"I think (it's) something we should all be striving for. We should also look below the surface to what Chinese and Americans are actually doing together before making a judgment of whether we have trust or not," he said.

Meanwhile, just ahead of the visit, Chinese and US businesses signed six deals worth $574 million in Houston, Texas, on Monday to kick off a four-day Beijing trade mission to the US.

The deals include imports of cotton as well as solar cell development and a PV (photovoltaic) system, used in power generation.

The trade delegation, sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce, is scheduled to visit 12 states and cities including Texas, North Carolina, Chicago, Boston and Washington DC.