U.S. and Chinese officials have discussed creating a new “Board of Trade” to help manage trade ties between the world’s two largest economies.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the idea was raised during a video call on Thursday with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The proposed Board of Trade would serve as a formal government channel to identify and oversee trade in everyday commercial goods that do not involve national security concerns.
This would allow both countries to manage import and export flows more predictably, officials said.
According to a post on X by the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, Greer and Bessent “highlighted the role that a new government-to-government Board of Trade could play in optimizing bilateral trade in non-sensitive goods.”
The officials also discussed “the importance of agricultural market access in China for U.S. producers,” the post stated.
On the Chinese side, He Lifeng held “candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges” with his U.S. counterparts, according to state broadcaster Xinhua.
China expressed concern over recent U.S. trade restrictions and said both sides agreed to use existing consultation mechanisms to resolve economic issues.
The call came as the two governments prepare for a summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, set for May 14 in Beijing.
That meeting was delayed once due to the Iran war, which has disrupted energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing up global oil prices and affecting China, a major crude importer.
Separately on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Wang told Rubio that the Taiwan issue remains the biggest risk to U.S.–China relations, Chinese state media CCTV reported.
Greer first floated the Board of Trade concept in March during talks in Paris with He Lifeng and Bessent.
He later described the mechanism at a Hudson Institute event in April as a government-to-government body to “figure out what are the non-sensitive goods we should be trading with each other, get a handle on that, figure out what those flows should look like.”
This approach, he added, would put both sides “in a better position to talk about stickier issues.”
The idea differs from the broad Strategic and Economic Dialogue used during the Obama administration, which Trump ended in his first term.
U.S. officials have instead relied on targeted talks focused on goods trade rather than wider economic or security matters.
Agriculture has been another focus. Greer has said the United States hopes to secure broader Chinese purchases of American farm goods beyond soybeans during the upcoming summit.
The discussions reflect efforts to stabilize bilateral trade relations amid ongoing tensions over tariffs, export controls and market access.