Asia Society 49d ago

May 12, 2026 — As President Trump prepares to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in mid-May, a new U.S.-China Board of Trade is emerging as a potential mechanism to manage trade between the world’s two largest economies. U.S. Trade Representative Greer suggested in March that this new trade architecture could identify non-strategic products for managed trade between the two countries. But the U.S. has pursued this approach before. During the U.S.-Japan trade wars of the 1980s and 1990s, Washington used managed trade policies — including numerical targets, voluntary export restraints, and market-share guarantees — to limit Japanese imports while promoting American exports in sectors such as automobiles, semiconductors, telecommunications, and medical technology. Unlike traditional rules-based trade agreements, managed trade focuses on achieving specific marketplace outcomes.  Join the Asia Society Policy Institute for a virtual panel discussion with leading experts Stephen P. Vaughn, Partner at King & Spalding LLP; Wendy Cutler, Senior Vice President at the Asia Society Policy Institute; and Ambassador Craig Allen, Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. They examine whether managed trade with China could work, what lessons can be drawn from the U.S.-Japan experience, whether China would accept such an approach, and what the implications could be for Asia, global trade, and the WTO. Bob Davis, former Wall Street Journal editor, moderates. Subscribe for more videos like this: http://AsiaSociety.org/YouTube --- Support Asia Society today: http://AsiaSociety.org/Donate --- Subscribe to our newsletter to stay connected: https://asiasociety.org/email-subscriptions --- Facebook: http://facebook.com/AsiaSociety Instagram: http://instagram.com/AsiaSociety Twitter: http://twitter.com/AsiaSociety LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/asia-society/ #trumpximeeting #tradewar #china #uschinarelations #japan #asiasocietypolicyinstitute 00:00 – Cold Open 00:10 – Introduction 01:53 – Discussion