04/16/2025April 16, 2025
China appoints new trade envoy in commerce ministry shake up
has named Li Chenggang to replace Wang Shouwen as its top international trade negotiator, amid between the world’s two largest economies over .
Wang, who has also served as the vice minister of commerce, was involved in negotiations for a trade deal between China and the US in 2020.
Li Chineggang, whose most recent role was as China’s envoy to the , had previously served as an assistant commerce minister during Trump’s first term in the White House.
The surprise announcement comes as Beijing pushes back against Trump’s 145% tariffs on Chinese goods.
, announced on April 2, caused turmoil in global markets before the White House abruptly backed down last week, announcing a 90-day pause for all countries — except China.
Beijing has responded to Trump’s tariffs with levies of 125% on US goods.
President and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao are currently on a tour of Southeast Asia, where many countries are facing the threat of Trump’s tariffs.
“We can only speculate as to why this happened at this precise moment; but it might be that in the view of China’s top leadership, given how tensions have continued escalating, they need someone else to break the impasse in with both countries find themselves and finally start negotiating,” Alfredo Montufar-Helu, a senior advisor to the Conference Board’s China Center, told Reuters.
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