The flags of China and the US can be seen printed on the paper in this illustration, taken on January 27, 2022.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
BEIJING – China’s national president Xi Jinping on Friday met with global leaders and filed a lawsuit to invest in the country.
He said multinational companies have a great responsibility to “maintain a global order” and that they need to work with China.
He emphasized that China is a safe and stable place for foreign companies. “To invest in China is to invest tomorrow,” he said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.
Reflecting recent policy plans, XI said China would ensure fair opportunities for foreign companies to participate in government procurement bids.
More than 40 people attended roundtable meetings with XI, mainly foreign executives and business officials, including Bridgewater Associates’ Ray Dalio, standard chartered CEO Bill Winters, and Blackstone Group CEO Steve Schwartzman.
US President Donald Trump has raised tariffs by 20% in China since January over alleged roles in the US fentanyl crisis, threatening the new tariff range on its major trading partners since early April. Trump said this week that he could cut China’s tariffs and help him enter into a transaction that forces the Beijing ordinance to sell Tiktok’s US business.
This week, the US also added dozens of Chinese tech companies to export blacklists, the first such restrictions under the Trump administration.
China has increased trade between Southeast Asian countries and the European Union, but the US remains Beijing’s biggest trading partner.
Xi said trade tensions between the US and China should be resolved through negotiations. “We need to work for the stability of our global supply chain,” he added, noting that there is no way under decoupling.
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi and deputy prime minister Rikun also attended the meeting along with the secretaries of China’s economic planning agency, the Ministry of Finance and Commerce.
In signs of how Beijing would try to offset trade pressures rather than forcibly retaliate, China courted executives of major U.S. companies at its annual state support meeting, Sunday through Monday. Apple CEO Tim Cook was among the executives present, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk was notable due to his absence.
Also on Sunday, US Republican Sen. Steve Daines met Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang in Beijing. This was the first time that American politicians visited China since they began their latest term in January.
“This is the first step into an important next step and will be a meeting between President XI and President Trump,” Daines told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s going to happen and where it happens is determined.”
The White House did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Li urged cooperation, saying that no one could benefit from the trade war, according to state media.
Top executives from major companies, including FedEx, Pfizer, Cargill, Qualcomm, Boeing and Chairman of the US-China Business Council, also attended Daines’ meetings with LI.
