Trade and tariff wars “will produce no winner,” China’s President Xi Jinping said Monday as he began his first overseas trip to Vietnam this year.
He added that protectionism “will lead nowhere,” an official statement said.
His comments came amid the raging trade war between China and the US — the world’s top two economies — as the Trump administration imposed 145% tariffs on Chinese imports and Beijing retaliated with 125% levies, signaling an end to any further hike from its side.
The US administration also imposed 46% tariffs on imports from Vietnam.
The Chinese president in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi on Monday began a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia, marking his first overseas trip of 2025.
This also represents Xi’s fourth visit to Vietnam since becoming the secretary-general of the Chinese Communist Party in November 2012.
Following his two-day state visit to Vietnam, Xi will travel to Malaysia at the invitation of King Sultan Ibrahim, and will conclude his tour on Friday with a visit to Cambodia, hosted by King Norodom Sihamoni.
The trip comes amid growing regional friction and a raging trade war with the US, with both economic powerhouses engaged in retaliatory tariffs.
China has remained Vietnam’s largest trading partner for over two decades, with bilateral trade volume surpassing $260 billion last year.
In a statement ahead of his arrival in Hanoi, Xi emphasized diplomacy and regional cooperation.
“We should properly manage differences and safeguard peace and stability in our region,” he said. “The successful delimitation of our boundaries on land and in the Beibu Gulf demonstrates that with vision, we are fully capable of properly settling maritime issues through consultation and negotiation.”
While China has strong economic ties with all three nations, it also has competing maritime claims with both Vietnam and Malaysia, as well as with other ASEAN member states in the disputed South China Sea, a longstanding flashpoint in regional security.