(Oct 2) : President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser said there’s no timeline for cutting tariffs on the US$60 billion of goods recently recommended by the US-China Board of Trade.

“We have to stick to our legal processes,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Thursday at the G20 Trade Ministerial in Milwaukee. Greer added that the Board of Trade recommendations may be included in tariff measures going forward.

For example, Greer said, if the USTR’s ongoing investigation into excess capacity ends up proposing remedies related to China, the two countries could turn to the board to find areas of managed trade. 

Greer said the mechanism would require public input, with a comment process and ultimately a legal determination on whether to adopt the board’s recommendations. All that reduces the chance that US consumers will benefit from reduced tariff rates in time for the holiday season. 

The plan to lower tariffs on US$30 billion of goods deemed non-sensitive from each country was negotiated under the Board of Trade, a government-to-government mechanism initially announced after Trump’s visit to Beijing in May and put into operation following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington in September. 

Under the mechanism, the US would be able to export to China a range of goods with lower tariffs, including meat and dairy products. Chinese goods imported to the US under the arrangement would include small appliances, toys and holiday decorations. 

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