Washington (TDI): The Office of the United States Trade Representative took a concrete step toward easing the long-running trade war with China on Tuesday.
It opened a public comment process to identify which Chinese goods qualify for tariff reductions under a new bilateral trade framework agreed to by President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, last month.
It is the first formal implementation step for the “US-China Board of Trade,” a mechanism the two leaders agreed to establish at their mid-May summit in Beijing.
The USTR is inviting businesses, farmers, manufacturers, and other stakeholders to weigh in on which categories of “non-sensitive” products can see tariffs rolled back on both sides of the Pacific. Comments are due by July 10, with rebuttals accepted through July 27.
The Trump Administration is establishing a U.S.-China Board of Trade to optimize bilateral trade in non-sensitive products and deliver results for American farmers, ranchers, fisherman, small businesses, manufacturers, and workers.
While robust tariffs remain in place to combat… pic.twitter.com/WSYV6gQLmG
— United States Trade Representative (@USTradeRep) June 2, 2026
Officials from both countries have described the effort as targeting roughly $30 billion worth of goods on each side that could be traded sustainably without crossing national security lines.
The USTR’s public notice, however, does not reference that figure, instead asking stakeholders to broadly define eligible products.
In a Federal Register notice, the agency asked what types of Chinese imports “give rise to few, if any, issues related to economic and national security and supply chain resilience risks,” and whether they should be allowed back in at the lower “most-favored nation” tariff rates that prevailed before Trump’s first term.
Respondents are also asked to supply import value data from 2022 to 2024, and to identify which consumers would benefit or be harmed by any adjustment.
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The agency is seeking parallel information on US exports to China currently facing retaliatory tariffs, with particular attention to agricultural products; a perennial pressure point for American farmers and a politically sensitive constituency for the Trump administration.
Trade Representative Jamieson Greer framed the process as consistent with a tariff-first strategy. “The Trump Administration will work with stakeholders to identify non-sensitive goods trade that can deliver results for American farmers, ranchers, fishermen, small businesses, manufacturers, and workers,” Greer said in a statement.
Rather than a broad rollback, the Board of Trade would create a structured channel for selective relief, leaving the bulk of existing tariffs in place.
The USTR is also soliciting views on how frequently the Board of Trade should convene and how it should update the list of eligible products over time.
