New Trade Negotiator Appointed By China

Amid the escalating tariff war between the two largest economies in the world, China appointed a new trade negotiator. The Chinese government, on Wednesday, decided to replace Wang Shouwen with Li Chenggang. The decision was considered controversial, as Wang had been the country’s chief negotiator during the 2020 trade war.

Li Chenggang, before his current appointment, served four and a half years as China’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization, which he helped the country access, having been one of the negotiators involved in China’s entry into the organization. He also served as the Deputy Permanent Representative to the Chinese delegation at the United Nations Office in Geneva.

The move comes as Beijing signals it has several strategies to counter U.S. measures among them, shifting greater focus to its massive domestic market of 1.4 billion people, and strengthening ties with Europe and nations in the Global South.

Xi has been making the case for China as a source of “stability and certainty” in global free trade as he tours Southeast Asia this week implying that China is a more reliable trade partner than the U.S.

After visiting Vietnam, he arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, later Tuesday, for a three-day visit and will end with a stop in Cambodia. In Malaysia, Xi is expected to discuss a free trade agreement between China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nation, one of several funds and agreements China has led as a means of sidestepping organizations and mechanisms dominated by the U.S. and the West.