HANOI/BEIJING: China's President Xi Jinping on Monday (April 14) urged Vietnam to cooperate in preserving global supply chains amid disruptions caused by US tariffs, as he kicks off a three-nation trip to South-East Asia in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi. The visit, planned for weeks, comes as Beijing faces 145 per cent US duties, while Vietnam is negotiating a reduction of threatened US tariffs of 46 per cent that would otherwise apply in July after a global moratorium expires.
"There are no winners in trade wars and tariff wars, and protectionism has no way out," Xi said in an article posted ahead of his arrival on Monday on Nhandan, the newspaper of Vietnam's Communist Party.
"We must firmly safeguard the multilateral trading system, maintain the stability of the global industrial and supply chains, and maintain the international environment for open cooperation," he said.
Under pressure from Washington, Vietnam is tightening controls on some trade with China to make sure goods exported to the United States with a "Made in Vietnam" label have sufficient added value in the country to justify that.
Vietnam imports most goods from China while the United States is its main export market. The country is a major source of electronics, shoes and apparel for the United States.
In the first three months of this year Hanoi imported goods worth about US$30 billion from Beijing while its exports to Washington amounted to US$31.4 billion, Vietnam's customs data show, confirming a long-term trend in which imports from China closely match the value and swings of exports to Washington.
Xi will visit Vietnam from April 14 to 15, and Malaysia and Cambodia from April 15 to 18. He last visited Cambodia and Malaysia nine and 12 years ago, respectively.
Xi's trip to Hanoi, his second in less than 18 months, aims to consolidate relations with a strategic neighbour that has received billions of dollars of Chinese investments in recent years as China-based manufacturers moved south to avoid tariffs imposed by the first Trump administration.
The two Communist-run countries are set to sign about 40 agreements in multiple sectors, Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son said on Saturday.
Vietnam's top leader To Lam in an article published on Monday on state media said Hanoi wanted to boost cooperation in defence, security and infrastructure, especially on rail links. It was unclear whether the agreements would be binding and entail financial commitments.
Vietnam has agreed to use Chinese loans to build new railways between the two countries, in a major confidence-building step that would boost bilateral trade and connections.
However, no loan agreement has yet been announced.
Beijing is also seeking Vietnam's approval for its COMAC planes.
The two other countries on Xi's Southeast Asia itinerary, Cambodia and Malaysia, are facing US duties of 49 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively, and have already begun reaching out to the US to seek a reprieve. - Reuters
