WASHINGTON (AFP) –
US President Barack Obama should press visiting Chinese officials next week to open China's markets to banned US beef and pork exports, Republican Senator Charles Grassley said Tuesday.

"I ask that when meeting with the visiting delegation from China next week, your administration raise the issue of China?s continued barriers to exports of US pork and beef," Grassley said in a letter to Obama.

"These scientifically unfounded barriers negatively impact producers in my home state of Iowa," a major US farm state, said Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee that has jurisdiction over international trade.

Obama is scheduled to speak July 27 at the opening of high-level strategic and economic talks between Chinese and US leaders here next week, according to the White House.

The discussions, set for Monday and Tuesday, are an extension and expansion of economic talks begun under the previous administration of George W. Bush.

China's ban of US pork stems from worries about H1N1 "swine" flu, but the World Health Organization and other agencies have said the virus is not transmitted through food, said Grassley.

And US safeguards meant US boneless and bone-in beef derived from cattle of all ages can be imported without concern about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), otherwise known as "mad cow disease," said Grassley.