Confidant of Xi Jinping warns of new trade conflict
Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang warns that a protectionist trade policy only creates losers. He also calls for the strengthening of an organization that Trump would prefer to dissolve.
One day after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang has warned of the consequences of a global trade conflict. The top politician, who is considered a confidant of President Xi Jinping, said on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos: “Protectionism is a mistake.” A trade policy focused exclusively on national interests would only produce losers.
Vice-Premier Ding did not mention the newly elected US President at all. However, in his speech at the World Economic Forum, he distanced himself from the deal-driven foreign and trade policy that Trump stands for. “Economic globalization is not a game in which one side should lose and one should win.” Furthermore, trade policy should not discriminate against individual countries.
He also spoke out in favor of reviving the World Trade Organization (WTO). The USA has effectively blocked the Geneva-based institution by preventing the election of judges to rule on trade disputes within the WTO.
Ding emphasized: “We should maintain the multilateral trade order within the framework of the WTO.” This creates economic prosperity for all trading partners. “We should enlarge the cake of economic globalization - and we should divide it better.”
