China, under Xi Jinping's leadership, is intensifying diplomatic efforts to garner international support against the Trump administration's trade policies. This includes video calls with the EU, contacts with officials in Japan and South Korea, and state visits to Vietnam and Malaysia.
At stake is the global trading system that fueled China's economic growth, and access to markets threatened by US tariffs. China has responded with its own tariffs and restrictions on exports of strategic minerals.
China's actions also represent a challenge to Washington's efforts to contain China's global influence. Xi Jinping seeks to prevent other countries from imposing their own tariffs on Chinese goods or complying with US demands to decouple from Chinese manufacturing.
China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, and his subordinates are mounting a diplomatic full court press to try to persuade other countries not to cave to pressure from the Trump administration on tariffs, hoping to show that China will not be isolated in the trade war.
In recent days, China’s commerce minister has held a video call with the European Union’s top trade official, pushing for closer cooperation. Chinese diplomats have been contacting officials in Tokyo and Seoul. And Mr. Xi landed in Vietnam and Malaysia on state visits this week where he was greeted with carefully choreographed crowds of supporters.
At stake for Mr. Xi are the fate of the global trading system that propelled China’s rise as the world’s manufacturing powerhouse, as well as access to markets for many Chinese exports now that the United States has sought to cut them off with debilitating tariffs.
The outreach is also a test of China’s status as a global power in the face of what Beijing sees as an effort by Washington to contain and suppress its key rival. China has fought back against the Trump administration with its own eye-watering tariffs on U.S. goods, as well as restrictions on the export of some rare earth minerals and magnets that are vital for assembling cars, missiles and drones.
To that end, Mr. Xi has tried to assemble a broader coalition to his side — hoping to keep countries from slapping tariffs of their own on Chinese products, or giving in to Washington’s demands to decouple from Chinese manufacturing.
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