Beijing summit establishes U.S.–China bilateral trade board to steer deals

President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping ended a two-day summit in Beijing on May 15 by announcing new channels to manage trade and investment disputes rather than unveiling the large commercial deals Trump had previewed before the trip. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the two sides agreed to establish boards on trade and investment, with working-level teams still left to work out the details. Trump described the visit as “very successful,” and Xi called it “historic” and “symbolic,” according to Chinese and U.S. accounts. Public readouts, however, showed no confirmed agreements on long-discussed energy sales, advanced chip access or other headline economic issues. ### What did Trump and Xi actually announce in Beijing? Wang Yi said after the summit that the United States and China would set up new boards on trade and investment to address issues including market access and agricultural products. Bloomberg, citing Wang’s briefing and the Chinese foreign ministry, reported that the mechanism would still require further talks by working-level teams before it can be implemented. (bloomberg.com) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had previewed the idea a day earlier, saying administration officials were discussing both a board of investment and a board of trade with Beijing. Bessent told CNBC that an investment board would help define “nonstrategic, nonsensitive areas” where Chinese investment in the United States could be considered. (bloomberg.com) ### Why do the new boards matter more than the missing big deals? Trump left Beijing saying he and Xi had made “fantastic trade deals,” but public statements released by both sides did not spell out major signed agreements. The New York Times reported that the summit ended without major breakthroughs on trade, Taiwan or other core disputes, even as both leaders emphasized stability. (politico.com) Politico reported before and during the summit that Trump’s team had been looking for narrower deliverables after earlier hopes for a broader bargain faded. Bessent said Trump was focused on reducing the bilateral trade imbalance either by cutting imports from China or by selling more U.S. goods into the Chinese market. ### How did Taiwan cut through the summit’s warmer tone? (nytimes.com) Xi used some of his sharpest public language on Taiwan during the Beijing meetings. NBC News, citing a Chinese readout, reported that Xi told Trump the issue was the most important one in U.S.-China relations and warned that the two countries would face “clashes and even conflicts” if it was handled improperly. (politico.com) The U.S. side did not include Taiwan in its public account of the meeting, according to NBC News. That gap between the Chinese and American readouts was one of the clearest signs that the summit’s cordial staging did not erase major disagreements over security and sovereignty. ### What did Beijing say about the broader relationship? (nbcnews.com) Xi said on May 14 that he had agreed with Trump on “a new vision of building a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability,” according to China’s foreign ministry. In the same official account, Xi said the two sides should make better use of existing political, diplomatic and military communication channels and sustain what he described as positive momentum from the economic talks. (nbcnews.com) Chinese state and official messaging also stressed that China would “only open its door wider” and welcomed more mutually beneficial cooperation with U.S. businesses. Those statements fit Beijing’s effort to present the summit as a stabilizing event while keeping its core positions on Taiwan and other strategic issues unchanged. ### What happens next after the summit? (mfa.gov.cn) Working-level officials from both governments now have to decide how the new trade and investment boards would operate, what issues they would cover and who would sit on them. Wang said those details still need to be discussed before the plan can take effect. Trump departed Beijing on May 15 after a final private meeting with Xi, and the next test will be whether the promised mechanisms produce public agreements on market access, agriculture or tariffs. (mfa.gov.cn) For now, the clearest documented next step is not a signed commercial package but the follow-on talks by U.S. and Chinese teams tasked with building the new boards. (bloomberg.com)