Boeing orders, ‘Board of Trade’ talks take center stage during Trump’s China visit

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington expects China to announce a major order for Boeing aircraft during President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing, as the two countries push to rebalance trade ties and expand American exports.

Speaking to CNBC on Thursday after meetings with Chinese officials, Bessent said the discussions focused on boosting US exports to China, including aircraft, energy products and agricultural goods. He added that both sides were also exploring mechanisms to stabilize bilateral economic ties through the creation of a proposed “Board of Trade” and a separate “Board of Investment.”

According to Bessent, the proposed trade board would oversee commercial relations between the world’s two largest economies, while the investment board would screen Chinese investments into non-strategic sectors in the United States before they reach the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which he chairs.

“What we want to do is make sure these investments don’t get referred to CFIUS,” Bessent said, adding that the new framework would help identify whether investments involve sensitive or strategic sectors.

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Bessent also dismissed speculation that the Trump administration was seeking as much as $1 trillion in Chinese investment into the United States.

The Treasury Secretary said Washington’s broader objective remains reducing the trade imbalance with China either by lowering imports from China or by increasing American exports to the Chinese market.

Trump, who met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday, said he wanted China to further open its economy and help rebalance bilateral trade relations.

Bessent noted that the US was open to Chinese investment in areas considered non-sensitive, citing consumer goods such as fireworks as examples of industries Washington would not seek to reshore.