US, China mull ‘board of trade’ to manage bilateral economy ties

PARIS - The US and China are considering a new mechanism that could potentially oversee economic ties and manage bilateral concerns between the two geoeconomic competitors.

“We talked about potentially having even a mechanism with the US and China, almost like what we might call a US-China Board of Trade,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in Paris on March 16. He said it would serve as a way to formalise the kinds of things the US should be importing from and exporting to China.

He spoke at the conclusion of a day and a half of meetings between US and Chinese economic officials that were planned to lay the ground for a Beijing summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

Mr Li Chenggang, China’s vice-minister for commerce, said earlier on March 16 that that two sides discussed the idea of establishing a working group that would examine promoting cooperation mechanisms for bilateral trade and investment. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, briefing reporters along with Mr Greer, said another feature of the talks was a very detailed discussion about the tariff regime that the Trump administration intends to implement.

“They were constructive and they show the stability of the relationship,” Mr Bessent told journalists.

After Mr Trump lost a landmark Supreme Court case that deemed his emergency duties illegal, officials have been working on replacing the previous duties using other legal authorities.

Mr Greer said his team gave the Chinese “a preview of what we’re doing on US trade policy as we adjust to the Supreme Court”.

“The president’s trade policy hasn’t changed, our tools may change, and we’re conducting these investigations,” he added.

“We don’t want to prejudge them, and we had a good conversation with our counterparts about that process.”

Beijing visit

Mr Bessent earlier on March 16 on CNBC sought to play down concerns over any delay to Mr Trump’s China trip, which had been scheduled to start later in March.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said separately on Fox News that “I don’t think the meeting is in jeopardy, but it’s quite possible” it could be delayed. 

The US and China once had a broad mechanism for regular engagement on bilateral ties, known during the Obama administration as the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, but Mr Trump abandoned that in his first term in office.

Mr Bessent and Mr Greer have been instead leading talks with Vice-Premier He Lifeng and other Chinese officials every several weeks or months since May in 2025. BLOOMBERG, AFP