Xi Jinping has warned there will be “no winners” from Donald Trump’s trade war as the Chinese president embarks on a diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia this week.
The warning was delivered in an editorial jointly published in Chinese and Vietnamese media ahead of a trip which experts say Xi will use to portray his country as a “responsible” superpower—in contrast to the United States under President Trump.
Although Trump temporarily paused the vast majority of the tariffs after causing the stock market to crash last week, the import levies have still been kept on China, which faces 145 percent tariffs on many exports to the U.S. Beijing responded by imposing their own 125 percent levies on American imports and has vowed to “fight until the end.”
“There are no winners in a trade war, or a tariff war,” Xi wrote in the editorial, avoiding direct mention of the U.S. or Trump, according to the Associated Press. “Our two countries should resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and open and cooperative international environment.”
“Trade war and tariff war will produce no winner, and protectionism will lead nowhere,” he added.
Although the trip to Vietnam was planned before Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs came into effect, it will take on greater significance as Asian leaders seek to navigate the new global order and insulate their economies from Trump’s economic policies.
“Xi’s trip is to showcase how China is the opposite to the coercive and self-interested U.S.,” Huong Le-Thu at the International Crisis Group told AP. “There will be a lot of expectations about what type of leadership and initiatives China is going to come up with at this time of crisis.”
Although Vietnam is also ruled by a one-party Communist state similar to China, it has managed to maintain strong relations with the U.S. and in 2023 hosted both Xi and then-U.S. President Joe Biden. The country has seen its economy strengthen in recent years after countries seeking to decouple their manufacturing efforts from China have moved their supply chain to Hanoi.
Writing in the Financial Times last week, Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro said: “We will want to hear from countries including Cambodia, Mexico and Vietnam that you will stop allowing China to evade US tariffs by trans-shipping exports through your countries.”
Following his visit to Vietnam, Xi will visit Cambodia and Malaysia.
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