HANOI, Vietnam — China’s leader Xi Jinping started a week of diplomacy in Southeast Asia with a visit to Vietnam on Monday, signaling China’s commitment to global trade, just after U.S. President Donald Trump upended the global economy with his latest tariffs moves.
Although Trump has paused some tariffs, China was the outlier, as he has kept in place 145% tariffs on the world’s second-largest economy.
Xi’s visit this week lets China show Southeast Asia it is a “responsible superpower in the way that contrasts with the way the U.S. under President Donald Trump presents to the whole world,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
China also can work to shore up its alliances and find solutions for the high trade barrier that the U.S. has on Chinese exports.
“There are no winners in a trade war, or a tariff war,” Xi wrote in an editorial jointly published in Vietnamese and Chinese official media. “Our two countries should resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and open and cooperative international environment.”
Read More: Why China Can’t Win a Trade War
He arrived in Hanoi on Monday and will be in Vietnam for two days as part of the state visit.
While Xi’s trip likely was planned earlier, it has become significant because of the tariff fight between China and the U.S., the world’s two largest economies. In Vietnam, Xi will meet with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, as well as the Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
“The trip to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia is all about how China can really insulate itself against the from Trump,” said Nguyen, pointing out…
