China’s President Xi Warns the US against Starting a Trade War

By Evans Momodu
4 minute read


Chinese President Xi Jinping has cautioned the United States against reigniting a trade war, emphasizing that such conflicts would yield "no winners," even as he pledged to protect China’s economic interests.

Xi’s remarks came during a meeting on Tuesday with leaders of global financial institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

This meeting occurred a day after Chinese regulators announced an antitrust investigation into American semiconductor giant Nvidia, signaling heightened tensions in the competition for dominance in artificial intelligence (AI), a domain both nations deem critical to their national security.

“Tariff wars, trade wars, and technology wars go against the historical trend and economic laws, and there will be no winners,” Xi stated, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

He also criticised strategies aimed at decoupling global supply chains, likening them to building “small courtyards with high walls” and arguing such moves harm all parties involved.

“China has always believed that only when China is good can the world be good. Only when the world is good can China be better,” he added.

The phrase “small yard and high fence” has been used by U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to describe policies that permit general trade with China but impose targeted restrictions on specific goods, particularly high-tech items like semiconductors with potential military applications.

This clash comes amid recent U.S. measures to curb Beijing’s access to advanced semiconductor technologies. The Biden administration has introduced export controls on semiconductor-making equipment, advanced memory chips, and over 100 Chinese companies in its latest round of restrictions.

Adding to the strain, Donald Trump, who will soon return to the White House, announced plans to increase tariffs on Chinese goods by 10% above existing levels unless Beijing curbs the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.

In a recent interview, Trump revealed he had communicated with Xi "a few days previously." However, when questioned during a routine press briefing, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry neither confirmed nor denied such a discussion.

The developments underline the increasingly fraught relationship between the world’s two largest economies, with trade, technology, and national security issues at the forefront of the growing tensions.
Source:CNN