The US-China Board of Investment is unlikely to feature as a meaningful outcome when Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet in Washington next month, according to the head of a leading bilateral business group. Neither government has meaningfully begun the consultation process needed to make the forum a reality, raising fresh questions about how much commercial substance will accompany the expected summit.
Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council, told the South China Morning Post that he was ‘not seeing evidence yet that that’s going to be a sizeable deliverable for the next summit.’ He said both Washington and Beijing had failed to initiate discussions, adding that ‘it looks like neither side is ready yet for discussions with the private sector.’
Trade board takes priority over investment forum
The Board of Investment was announced in May, alongside a Board of Trade, in the wake of a Trump-Xi summit aimed at stabilising commercial relations between the world’s two largest economies. A White House fact sheet described the investment board as a government-to-government forum for investment-related issues, while the trade board would cover bilateral trade in non-sensitive sectors.
Progress on the two mechanisms has been uneven. Stein said both sides are directing their energy toward the trade body rather than the investment framework. ‘I don’t think they are yet focused as much on the Board of Investment as they are on the Board of Trade and making sure the Board of Trade can very quickly deliver results for both countries,’ he said.
The trade board has moved faster. Negotiators are working to finalise non-sensitive sectors and products eligible for tariff-free trade capped at $30bn on each side. In June, the Office of the US Trade Representative sought public comments on products that could be included. Last month, the Chinese embassy said agriculture and aviation were among sectors selected for tariff-reduced trade.
The US Treasury Department did not respond to requests for comment from the South China Morning Post.
Broader tensions cloud the summit agenda
In an emailed statement, Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Chang said the two countries’ economic and trade teams are ‘maintaining close communication regarding the relevant mechanisms.’ He added that the trade and investment councils would provide ‘a platform for pragmatic discussions’ and help shift bilateral consultations from ‘crisis response’ to ‘mechanised management.’
The sluggish pace on investment sits against a backdrop of persistent economic friction, with both governments continuing to expand tariffs, export controls and restrictions on sensitive industries. According to CSIS, the Trump-Xi summit was expected to cover trade, investment, the war with Iran and Taiwan, underlining how crowded and contested the agenda has become. CSIS also found that the summit revealed little progress on what it described as the most consequential dimensions of US-China competition: artificial intelligence, cyber operations, export controls and digital sovereignty.
Those harder-edged issues sit well outside the commercial remit of the Board of Investment, yet they shape the political climate in which any investment forum would have to operate. So long as export control regimes tighten and restrictions on sensitive sectors multiply, the scope for a government-to-government investment mechanism narrows accordingly.
On the commercial side, there are at least signals that Washington wants private-sector involvement in its China engagement. Inkstick reported that the US delegation to the summit included prominent chief executives from a range of industries seeking improved market access, suggesting Washington sees a role for greater commercial engagement even within a national security-driven China policy.
Whether that appetite translates into a functioning Board of Investment remains unclear. For now, Stein’s assessment is plain: the mechanism announced with some fanfare in May has yet to acquire the political momentum needed to become a summit-ready deliverable. With the Board of Trade already consuming the bandwidth of negotiators on both sides, the investment forum looks set to remain a work in progress when Trump and Xi next sit down together.
