Xi Jinping is in Southeast Asia to build bonds with countries that also face U.S. tariffs and have come under pressure from Washington to curb the transshipment of Chinese goods.
President Xi Jinping of China kicked off a weeklong tour of Southeast Asia Monday, landing in Hanoi and trying to rally other nations to Beijing’s side as American tariffs threaten manufacturing networks and economic growth.
In an essay published Monday in Vietnamese state media just before his arrival, Mr. Xi called on other countries to join with China in defending stability, free trade and “an open and cooperative international environment.”
“There are no winners in trade wars and tariff wars,” Mr. Xi wrote, echoing comments he made recently in Beijing. “Protectionism has no way out.”
Mr. Xi’s weeklong tour of Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia aims to amplify that message. As President Trump’s tariffs send shock waves through the global economy, Mr. Xi is both striking back against the United States, and telling the world that he is now the leader to rely on for wealth creation and for nations that feel betrayed by the wild swings of Mr. Trump’s “America First” agenda.
The next few days will likely be filled with dramatic, choreographed warmth — dozens of women in traditional Vietnamese dresses waving Chinese flags greeted Mr. Xi as he stepped onto the tarmac in Hanoi just before noon. But behind the scenes, there’s a lot of uncertainty.
Vietnam and its neighbors are all trying to appease President Trump to get tariffs lowered, which may make them resistant to making bold pro-China pronouncements. The U.S.-China trade war — involving whopping tit-for-tat tariffs and the suspension of critical rare earths exports by China — has also made every country more vulnerable to a global recession, and more confused about where the world order might be heading.