Bessent confirms trade, investment board talks as Trump-Xi summit opens

US and China Discuss ‘Board of Trade’ and ‘Board of Investment’ as Trump-Xi Summit Begins in Beijing

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed on Thursday that U.S. and Chinese officials are actively discussing the creation of a “Board of Trade” to oversee bilateral commerce and a separate “Board of Investment” to address Chinese investment in non-sensitive sectors of the American economy, as President Donald Trump began two days of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.theedgemalaysia

Bessent said the investment board would focus on “nonstrategic, nonsensitive areas where Chinese could invest,” according to remarks carried by wire services on May 14. His comments came as Trump arrived in China on Wednesday for the first presidential visit to Beijing since 2017, accompanied by a delegation of roughly 17 CEOs including Elon Musk of Tesla, Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Tim Cook of Apple, and Kelly Ortberg of Boeing.marketscreener

A Managed-Trade Framework Takes Shape

The two proposed bodies represent a shift in Washington’s approach to managing the world’s most consequential economic relationship. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer first outlined the Board of Trade concept in March after talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Paris, describing it as a mechanism to formalize bilateral trade flows sector by sector. The Board of Trade is the more developed of the two proposals, aimed at identifying products and sectors where the two countries can grow commerce without compromising national security or critical supply chains, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the discussions.semafor

The Board of Investment, by contrast, would address “discrete investment issues” rather than set broad policy, the same sources said. Beijing has pushed for the investment board to match the trade body as a way to reduce barriers to Chinese companies operating in the United States. According to a CSIS analysis published ahead of the summit, China “would like agreement on the need to reduce barriers to investment in the United States, though it recognizes that this is probably more than is feasible at present”.ddnews

Pushback Over $1 Trillion Investment Reports

The proposals have drawn criticism from within Trump’s own coalition. Reports that Chinese officials may propose investing as much as $1 trillion in the U.S. in exchange for fewer national security restrictions prompted alarm from MAGA-aligned figures including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Fox News host Laura Ingraham, according to The Hill. Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on China, warned Bessent in a letter that encouraging Chinese investment would “relieve pressure on China’s faltering economy” and undermine the administration’s manufacturing goals.reuters

The White House has sought to tamp down speculation. Spokesperson Kush Desai told Semafor that the administration is “always seeking more investment into America’s industrial resurgence” but that “any notion that we would ever compromise our national security is baseless and false”. Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last month dismissed the idea that a Chinese firm might manufacture electric vehicles in the U.S..semafor

Summit Expectations Remain Modest

Analysts have tempered expectations for the two-day summit. The trade truce struck by Trump and Xi in South Korea last October is expected to be extended, and China may announce purchases of American soybeans, beef, and Boeing jetliners. Bessent said Thursday he expected a large Boeing order to be announced during the visit. But broader breakthroughs remain elusive, with Washington’s attention divided by the ongoing conflict in Iran and legal challenges to Trump’s tariff authority following the Supreme Court’s February ruling that struck down tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.politico