Beijing’s second place joins ASEAN and GCC leaders at its first summit, hoping that companies will “fully share” China’s development
Beijing’s second-largest official, China’s Prime Minister vowed to deepen economic ties with both Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and therefore pledged to open up the world’s second-largest economy to “quality products from around the world.”
“We need to enable domestic and international circulation so that companies around the world, including ASEAN and GCC countries, can fully share China’s development,” Li told a representative at Fortune’s ASEAN GCC-CHINA Economic Forum in Kuala Lumpur on May 27th.
Li was in the Malaysian capital to attend a summit between the leaders of the Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), in the first-ever event involving leaders of all three economic regions. The Trilateral Summit was held along with the annual ASEAN Summit and the bilateral conference between Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
China aims to build new economic ties with other regions after the US resumes its trade war with Beijing. About the same China’s employment of 16 million people Goldman Sachs is exposed to US exports, estimated earlier this year.
Beijing officials met with local leaders like Southeast Asia and latin america To try to build a united front against Trump’s tariffs, and to open up new markets for goods that may now be blocked by the US.
“Economic globalization is suffering from a severe blow we’ve never seen before. The values we pursue are being challenged forever, including peace, development and cooperation that is beneficial to both sides,” Li said Wednesday. “Coping with these issues properly brings great opportunities for our three sides of the country.”
Slowing China’s economy
The revived US-China trade war may have hurt I’m already struggling The Chinese economy is slowing under the weight of a stagnant consumption and the property debt crisis.
But investors and economists hope that trade headwinds may convince Beijing to unleash long-estimated stimulus packages.
On Wednesday, Li said Beijing pursued a more “active” policy to strengthen the market. “They will provide a strong foundation for increasing the aggregate market demand,” he added that Beijing will “continue to strengthen contradictory adjustments” in future policies.
The US has Paused As Beijing and Washington continue to negotiate trade, at one point the tariffs on China were a total of 154%. Products made in China now face 30% tax when they enter the US. China is currently only 10% tariffs on US goods. (Trump also suspended most of his so-called mutual tariffs on others in the world).
Despite the suspension, Trump’s statement still creates uncertainty for the government and investors. On Friday, Trump promised to slap 50% tariffs on European goods by June 1, saying negotiations “will not go anywhere.” he The threat has been cancelled By Sunday, he said that tariffs had once again been put on hold until early July.
The US president also threatened 25% tariff With Apple iPhones made outside the US, Apple has moved some of its manufacturing to India and is avoiding US tariffs away from China. But Trump called for such measures on Friday, saying even iPhones made in India would be taxed.
In other words, China is looking for a new market for its products. “We need to expand our local openings firmly and develop a big market,” Li said. Local leaders early on Tuesday.
Still, some Southeast Asian countries are wary of China’s export floods, and it is possible that entry into the US is now unconfirmed, which could lead to a “custom cascade” in which countries impose trade barriers to block redirected exports.
On Wednesday, Li was optimistic that there was room for increased trade between three different regions. Despite accounting for a quarter of the world’s population and global economic output, Li said the three economies account for only 5.4% of global trade.
“We could use it more,” he said. “This is leverage that can be used in the future.”
This story was originally introduced Fortune.com