Improving the U.S.-China Trade Relationship

When President Trump and President Xi Jinping concluded their May 14-15 summit in Beijing, the headline outcomes were familiar: discussion of a new U.S.-China “Board of Trade,” expectations of major new Chinese purchases of American agricultural products and indications that some tariffs on non-sensitive goods could eventually be reduced. Markets welcomed the renewed dialogue and continuation of the tariff truce. But the summit produced no meaningful commitments on industrial subsidies, state-directed overcapacity or the broader distortions embedded in China’s economic system.