Xi Jinping's exploits at Donald Trump show that China maintains its position in the trade war

If Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing to make big concessions in the United States, his long-awaited speech at a Shanghai trade show does not show it.

Xi reacted on Monday against President Donald Trump's "America First" policy by picking up some of his most cutting-edge words, denouncing the commercial practices of "jungle law" and "beggar, neighbor". At the same time, he did not present any new proposals suggesting that he was ready to respond to Trump's demands, such as stopping forced technology transfers or cutting back aid to state-owned enterprises. Inventories have declined across Asia.

"All countries should strive to improve their business environment and solve their own problems," said Xi at the first-ever China International Import Expo, bringing together more than 3,600 companies from around the world. 172 countries, regions and organizations. "They do not always have to bleach and blame others, or behave like a flashlight that exposes only the others, but not themselves."

Xi did not stop before appointing Trump or the United States in his speech, his most prominent economic address since the month of April. Instead, he stepped up warnings that protectionism would hurt global growth while committing to boosting domestic consumption, strengthening intellectual property protection and advancing trade negotiations with the world. 39, Europe, Japan and South Korea.

While Trump has considered the possibility of an agreement when he meets Xi in the coming weeks, the two sides remain far apart in resolving the main US complaints. Investors who watched Xi's speech in search of evidence that China really wanted to accelerate its economic opening and wanted a swift resolution of the trade war remained disappointed.

Repeated Promises

"He repeated many of the planned policies that we have already heard in recent months," said Sue Trinh, Head of Foreign Exchange Strategy at RBC Capital Markets in Hong Kong. "The markets seemed to appreciate the title" Reduce import tariffs ", but this plan had already been announced in September and can only be exploited very often."

Although Xi made a commitment to import $ 30 billion in goods over the next 15 years (compared to $ 24 trillion in previous estimates), his policy initiatives were largely in line with previous statements. The government has already cut rates this year and said it would do it again.

Xi will face the world, tired of empty promises at the big trade fair in China

The enthusiasm was not keen on the approach of the demonstration. Eighteen heads of state or government are about to come, but almost all come from small economies. Of the G-20 countries, only Russia sends a head of state or government.

Although the event was created to bring together foreign companies with the aim of attracting Chinese consumers, Adidas' global brands at Walmart, from Procter & Gamble to Uniqlo, were sending as country leaders, or even no leaders. Kevin Johnson, CEO of Starbucks Corp., whose company opens a store in China every 15 hours, will not participate, even if it will be in the same city.

"Law of the Jungle"

This did not tarnish Xi's efforts to make himself one of the leading advocates of globalization, which he described as a "road that widens". the practices of the law of the jungle and the winner all take a stalemate, "said Xi.

On Monday, Trump said the trade dispute with China could still go both ways.

"We are at this moment in a very big conflict and we are winning," Trump said during a conference call with his supporters on the eve of the mid-term elections. China wants to reach an agreement, but if they do not do it as well, he said.

China's new love for imports leaves a long way to the trade balance

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund who attended the Shanghai meeting, called on all parties to reduce tension and "repair the global trading system", not destroy it. "

China ranks 59th out of 62 countries evaluated by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in terms of openness to foreign direct investment. Nearly half of the Chinese firms surveyed in June by the European Chamber of Commerce in China said they missed business opportunities due to regulatory hurdles or market access restrictions, and they said they were not in business. expect an increase in barriers over the next five years.

About 180 US companies send representatives, including big names such as Google, Boeing Co., Caterpillar Inc., Facebook Inc., General Motors Co., Alphabet Inc., General Motors Co., Honeywell International Inc. , Microsoft Corp., Tesla Inc. and Qualcomm Inc.

Still, the US government remained largely on the sidelines, even though China said Trump had voiced support for the expo during an appeal to Xi last week. A spokesman for the US Embbady said that the Trump government did not intend to send a high-level representative, adding that "China must proceed with the necessary reforms to to put an end to its unfair commercial practices that are detrimental to the global economy ".

"It seems that we have had good statements and good titles, but we want concrete actions and a concrete timetable for reform," said Carlo Diego D'Andrea, president of the European Chamber in Shanghai. "We can not let CEOs of European companies in China start their business on grounds of hope that the reform will come."