Xi Jinping has warned that US protectionism will “lead nowhere” because the Chinese language chief launched into a tour of Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia to strengthen ties with export-reliant south-east Asian economies rattled by Donald Trump’s escalating commerce conflict.
The go to, Xi’s first overseas journey this yr, comes days after the US president raised tariffs on Chinese language items to as excessive as 145 per cent, deepening fears of a decoupling between the world’s two largest economies and triggering a sell-off in world markets.
Forward of the go to, Xi known as for better co-operation with Vietnam and different creating economies to advertise an “equal and orderly multi-polar world”.
“Commerce conflict and tariff conflict will produce no winner, and protectionism will lead nowhere,” Xi wrote in Vietnamese media, including that the international locations ought to “resolutely safeguard the multilateral buying and selling system, steady world industrial and provide chains and an open and co-operative worldwide setting”.
Many south-east Asian international locations — which have excessive commerce surpluses in items with the US due to their low-cost exports — have been additionally hit by levies as excessive as 49 per cent. World provide chains had moved to the area in recent times, notably to Vietnam, in an effort to diversify from China and keep away from US tariffs.
Trump has since introduced a 90-day reprieve on some tariffs, however the commerce uncertainty has unsettled south-east Asian governments and raised questions on Washington’s commitments to the area, the place China is already the biggest investor and buying and selling companion of many international locations.
Xi’s go to is sending the message that “we’re those who’re attempting to defend the present worldwide financial order, we’re those who’re defending the elimination of boundaries, and that the Chinese language market will stay open”, mentioned Dylan Loh, assistant professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological College.
Highlighting the uncertainty, the US on Friday introduced that smartphones and another shopper tech merchandise in addition to semiconductors and chipmaking gear imported from China could be excluded from the steep “reciprocal” tariffs, earlier than Trump on Sunday reversed course and mentioned the exemption was short-term, with a separate tariff regime to be established for the sector.
The Chinese language chief’s tour begins on Monday in Vietnam, one of many world’s fastest-growing economies and an rising manufacturing powerhouse. On Tuesday, he heads to Malaysia, this yr’s chair of the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations, and Cambodia.
Xi will even attempt to curry favour with south-east Asian leaders underneath stress to crack down on transshipments of Chinese language items via their international locations to bypass US tariffs.
Writing within the Monetary Instances final week, Trump’s commerce adviser Peter Navarro mentioned: “We are going to need to hear from international locations together with Cambodia, Mexico and Vietnam that you’ll cease permitting China to evade US tariffs by trans-shipping exports via your international locations.”
US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent met Vietnam’s deputy prime minister Ho Duc Phoc final week and agreed to begin formal commerce talks.
Yanmei Xie, an unbiased analyst on Chinese language politics, mentioned as Washington opened commerce negotiations with numerous international locations, “one massive ask” could be to decouple farther from China in alternate for entry to the US market.
“The sport is on to attempt to get ‘third’ international locations” on aspect, mentioned Xie.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met Xi in Beijing on Friday, and EU leaders are planning to journey to China for a summit in late July. Xi informed Sánchez he was eager to deepen ties with the European nation amid a troublesome commerce conflict and repeated his warning that the world was “present process accelerated adjustments unseen in a century”.
The US tariffs unveiled this month would have a harmful impact on south-east Asian international locations, economists have warned. Vietnam, which faces a 46 per cent price, could be among the many hardest hit, with the US accounting for almost a 3rd of its exports.
Singaporean financial institution OCBC lowered its 2025 GDP progress forecast for Vietnam from 6.2 per cent to five per cent following the tariff announcement, although Hanoi has maintained its 8 per cent progress goal.
Loh mentioned south-east Asian international locations would attempt to “hedge and stroll an more and more skinny line” between the rival superpowers. Whereas Vietnam has been one of many largest beneficiaries of the manufacturing shift away from China, its bigger neighbour can also be its largest supply of recent funding initiatives.
Singapore’s overseas minister mentioned in an interview with the FT final week that the shake-up of the worldwide commerce system may show “very hostile for small nations”, which risked being “squeezed out”.
Beijing has spent years constructing sturdy financial and commerce relationships in south-east Asia, investing billions of {dollars} in infrastructure, whilst its territorial disputes within the South China Sea have worsened.
James Char, a China skilled on the S Rajaratnam Faculty of Worldwide Research in Singapore, mentioned the uncertainty brought on by Trump’s commerce insurance policies created a possibility for Beijing to “stake its claims to be a dependable companion for international locations within the area”.
However whereas many creating economies in south-east Asia are more and more aligned with China, there may be widespread trepidation about Beijing’s affect within the area, he added.
“Deep down, a lot of the south-east Asian international locations do have reservations about China’s potential to be a magnanimous nice energy hegemon,” mentioned Char.
