(Bloomberg) -- China’s President Xi Jinping said a trade war will produce “no winners” and called for nations to uphold a rules-based order led by the World Trade Organization
Addressing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO summit on Saturday in Papua New Guinea, Xi said setting barriers and cutting economic ties was short-sighted and doomed to fail. Protectionism and unilateralism were overshadowing global growth, and a policy of erecting economic barriers was doomed to fail, Xi said.
“Disagreements should be resolved through consultation,” Xi told the forum on a cruise ship anchored off Port Moresby. “Attempts to form exclusive blocs or impose one’s will on others should be rejected. History has shown that confrontation, whether in the form of a cold war, a hot war or a trade war, will produce no winners.”
The growing U.S.-China trade dispute is looming large at the APEC summit this weekend in Papua New Guinea, where U.S. President Mike Pence will speak later Saturday. The U.S. has so far imposed tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports. In retaliation, China has slapped tariffs on $110 billion in imports from the U.S. and effectively shut off its purchase of key American agricultural exports including soybeans.
“Mankind has once again reached a crossroads. Which direction should we choose?,” Xi said. “Cooperation or confrontation?”
“The interests of all countries and indeed the future of mankind hinge on the choice we make,” he said.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Dandan Li in Beijing at dli395@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Edward Johnson
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