WASHINGTON – The Bush administration said yesterday that China has agreed to crack down on copyright piracy of American computer programs and lift a ban on American beef as part of an effort to reduce a record $202 billion trade gap.

The announcement was one of several commitments China made during a high-level meeting designed to reduce trade tensions in advance of next week’s visit by President Hu to America.

The commerce secretary, Carlos Gutierrez, and U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman led the delegation at the annual meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade. The Chinese side was led by a vice premier, Wu Yi.

The administration said that in the area of piracy, the Chinese agreed to require that computers use legal software and to step up enforcement of intellectual property rights. They also pledged to close Chinese optical disk plants that are producing pirated CDs and DVDs.

In addition, the Chinese continued a multibillion-dollar buying spree of American products with a scheduled signing of a commercial airliner deal with Boeing valued at $4.6 billion.

“Our message to China has been consistent and clear,” Mr. Portman said at a joint news conference with the Chinese. “American exporters, workers, farmers, and service providers deserve the same access that China has to our markets.”

Mr. Gutierrez said China had agreed to reopen its market to beef from America after clearing up some remaining some technical issues.

“We both committed to work closely together to do this quickly,” he said.

The administration has been pushing the Chinese for greater commitments to deal with trade barriers, which American firms contend are costing them billions of dollars in lost sales, and to stop holding down the value of their currency in relation to the dollar.

The administration is under growing political pressure to show progress in dealing with a soaring trade deficit with China that critics say has contributed to the loss of nearly 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2000.