China says it is 'Tearing Down Walls' to Expand Trade Alliances Amid US Standoff

• China is "tearing down walls" and expanding its circle of trading partners, "shaking hands" instead of "shaking fists", its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, as Beijing works on diversifying ties amid an escalating trade war with the U.S.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping, on Monday, kicked off a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia, which covers Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia. In Vietnam, which is facing potential U.S. tariffs of 46%, Xi called for the two countries to oppose "unilateral bullying" and to strengthen cooperation in production and supply chains.
• President Donald Trump has added an eye-watering 145% of tariffs on Chinese goods this year as part of broader reciprocal duties on all U.S. trading partners. This prompted ridicule and criticism from Beijing, which retaliated by jacking up levies on U.S. goods by 125%.
• The World Trade Organisation has warned that the high-stakes China-U.S. trade row could cut the shipment of goods between the two economies by as much as 80% and severely hurt global growth.
• However, Beijing has called U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs strategy "a joke", irritating U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. "These are not a joke. I mean, these are big numbers," Bessent said in a Bloomberg Television interview." I think no one thinks they're sustainable, wants them to remain here, but it's far from a joke." Any U.S.-China negotiations would have to come from "the top," involving Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Bessent also said.
• That said, a commentary published on Tuesday by China's state-run People's Daily underlined the need for unity amid the trade turbulence. "In the face of crisis, no one can keep only to oneself," the commentary said, referencing Dorothy's adventure in the American children's story The Wizard of Oz. "Only unity and cooperation can meet the challenge."

(Source: Reuters)