XI IN PLEA TO G20 LEADERS BEFORE FACING TRUMP
President issues fresh defence of global economic order in rebuffing US accusations and says WTO rules run counter to protectionist measures
President Xi Jinping called on the G20 nations to resist protectionism and maintain a multilateral trade system, ahead of a highstakes working dinner with US President Donald Trump that could see the two men halting or even ending their trade war.
In his speech to the G20 leaders’ summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday, Xi said the world economy was at a historic crossroads and urged the major economies to “demonstrate courage” to put the world economy “on the right track”.
“Five years ago, when I first attended the G20 leaders’ summit, I called for the maintenance and development of an open world economy,” Xi said, according to a transcript of his speech.
“Now, this task is even more urgent” because trade protectionist measures were on the rise and the 2018 global commodity trade turnover was expected to shrink.
It was Xi’s latest effort to paint China as a defender of the global trade system at a time when Washington is accusing the country of unfair trade practices, stealing trade secrets and subsidising state-owned enterprises at the cost of other countries.
Xi and the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa also called for open international trade and a strengthening of the World Trade Organisation.
“The spirit and rules of the WTO run counter to unilateral and protectionist measures,” they said. “We call on all members to oppose such WTO-inconsistent measures, stand by their commitments undertaken in the WTO.”
In a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Xi said negotiations for two trade pacts – the 16-nation Regional
No matter what difficulties we’ve encountered, G20 members should unite together
PRESIDENT XI JINPING
Comprehensive Economic Partnership and a free-trade deal between China, Japan and South Korea – should be sped up.
Xi and Trump were due to have dinner last night to discuss their differences and potentially call a ceasefire in the trade war. Washington plans to raise tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese imports from 10 per cent to 25 per cent from January if it cannot come to terms with Beijing.
Xi did not mention the US or the trade war in his speech. He said Beijing wanted to hold the
G20 nations together. “The spirit of partnership is the most valuable asset of the G20,” Xi said.
“No matter what difficulties we’ve encountered, G20 members should unite together to overcome them.”
Host country Argentina was caught between the two powers on Friday when the White House claimed that Buenos Aires agreed with Washington that China’s trade policies were “predatory”.
An Argentine official quickly denied the claims to the Post, saying Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ remarks only “reflected the person’s own view”.
While the US, Canada and Mexico held a signing ceremony of their new trade pact, China and France held a joint press conference to show their commitment to reducing climate change.
The Trump administration announced last year its intention to pull out of the Paris Accord, which lays out non-binding targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Xi stressed Beijing supported “necessary reforms” of the WTO but that these should protect the “interests” of developing countries. China defines itself as a developing country that should get better treatment in global trade than developed countries.
Xi also said richer countries should “pay more attention” to the possible impact their domestic fiscal and monetary policies had on emerging markets.
He said China would continue to “open up”, protect intellectual property rights and encourage fair play – all areas identified as problems by the US government.