The recently established US-China board of trade has unclear objectives, with differing expectations from both the White House and China's Ministry of Commerce regarding its mission and scope.

High on the list of deliverables agreed following the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump was the establishment of a board of trade, albeit with little detail on its mission, responsibilities or operations. The White House expects the board “to manage bilateral trade across non-sensitive goods” while China’s Ministry of Commerce says the board “will discuss issues such as tariff reductions”. While not contradictory, both formulations are vague and hint at...