Chinese President Xi Jinping launches Asia tour to boost China’s trade power
President of Vietnam Luong Cuong and President of China Xi Jinping (Photo: Getty Images)
Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched a diplomatic tour across Asia to position Beijing as the global trade leader amid Washington’s unprecedented tariff war, NBC News reports.
As the White House hits key trade partners with steep tariffs, Xi Jinping is moving swiftly to fill the vacuum.
Starting in Vietnam — now facing a 46% US import duty — and continuing through Malaysia (24%) and Cambodia (49%), Xi is offering an alternative vision of global cooperation.
"A trade war and tariff war will produce no winner, and protectionism will lead nowhere," he declared in Vietnam’s Nhan Dan newspaper.
In a meeting with Vietnamese leader To Lam, Xi called for unity in resisting "unilateral bullying" and defending global supply chains.
According to Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at SOAS University of London, "Xi sees Trump dismantling the global order — and he’s using that to rewrite the rules in China’s favor."
As Europe loses trust in the US, China builds new alliances
Simultaneously, Xi has turned his attention to the European Union.
During a visit to Spain, he urged Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and other EU leaders to join China in safeguarding free trade.
"To go against the world is to isolate yourself," Xi said. The EU, meanwhile, is reconsidering its 45% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles — a move made more likely as the US continues threatening China with duties as high as 145%.
Experts say China is playing a calculated game: devaluing the yuan to support exports, reaffirming trade ties, and quietly holding over $700 billion in US government bonds as leverage.
At the same time, US allies like Japan and South Korea are feeling trapped — dependent on America for defense but economically tethered to China.
"You can’t ignore Beijing anymore," noted Kerry Brown, professor at King’s College London.
As the US shocked the world with tariffs of up to 104%, China condemned Trump’s 'trade tyranny' and called for global resistance — positioning itself as a stabilizing force in a fractured global economy.
With markets crashing and supply chains breaking down, analysts now warn that Trump’s runaway trade war is triggering a deepening global recession and a collapse of trust in the US as a reliable economic partner.
