Bracing for Trump tariffs, China’s Xi makes diplomatic push at global summits

RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA: In his first global meetings since Donald Trump was reelected to lead the US, Chinese President Xi Jinping went on a diplomatic offensive, hedging against expected new tariffs and preparing to exploit potential future rifts between Washington and its allies.

At meeting after meeting, from APEC in Peru to G20 in Brazil over the last week, Xi sought to draw a contrast with Trump’s ‘America First’ message, presenting himself as a predictable defender of the multilateral global trade order.

Summit organisers, diplomats and negotiators also describe a noticeable shift from previous summits in a more constructive posture by Chinese diplomats, who were less focused on their narrow interests and more involved in building a broader consensus.

The outreach is urgent for Beijing. While better prepared for another Trump White House -- with many tech companies far less reliant on US imports -- China is also more vulnerable after its economy was hit by a huge property crisis.

Much of China’s attention has focused on the Global South, with state news agency Xinhua praising the G20 for including the African Union as one of the members. The voice of the Global South needed to be “not merely heard but also translated into tangible influence,” Xinhua said.

During his G20 speech on Monday, Xi reiterated China’s position on “unilaterally opening our doors wider to the least developed countries,” touting China’s move to give all such countries “zero-tariff treatment for 100 per cent tariff lines”.

By making such overtures, China wants to expand its leading position in parts of the developing world where the US has long lagged due to its inability to match the billion-dollar investments that China’s state-led economy has marshalled.

“To position China as a defender of globalisation and a critic of protectionism, this calculated messaging comes at a time when many countries in the Global South fear the potential return of indiscriminate trade and tariff policies from the US, particularly under Trump’s influence,” said Sunny Cheung, associate fellow for China Studies at Jamestown Foundation, a think tank based in Washington DC.

“Xi’s remarks aim to present China as a more stable and sensible and most importantly a reciprocal partner in contrast to perceived US unpredictability.”

CONCILIATORY TONE

Trump has pledged to impose tariffs on Chinese imports in excess of 60 per cent, and a Reuters poll of economists found they expected the US would impose tariffs of nearly 40 per cent, potentially slicing growth in the world’s second-biggest economy by up to 1 percentage point.

Former Chinese diplomats privately acknowledge that developing countries won’t make up for that loss, but Xi has been betting heavily on the expansion of BRICS and mending fences with Asian neighbours, from India to Japan to Australia. European countries, also threatened by Trump with tariffs, sought to strike a conciliatory tone with Xi at the latest round of meetings.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz said Berlin would work for a mediated solution to an EU-China dispute over Chinese electric vehicles as fast as possible during his meeting Xi.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer struck an upbeat tone in the first meeting between the countries’ two leaders since 2018, saying he would like to engage with Beijing on areas such as trade, the economy and climate, and have broader engagement on science, technology, health and education.

Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based international relations scholar, said European allies of the US would not “embrace” China if Trump’s protectionist policies were aimed at them “but there would be more cooperation”.

LIMITS OF OUTREACH

Behind the scenes, diplomats said they also noted a change in China’s behaviour at these multinational gatherings, with Beijing officials getting involved in a wider set of issues.—Reuters