China’s and U.S.’ dangles are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday met with broad executives and made a case for investing in the country, as Beijing focuses on reaching out to businesses amid escalating trade forces with the U.S.
He emphasized that China was a safe and stable place for foreign businesses. “To invest in China is to invest in tomorrow,” he communicated in Mandarin translated by CNBC.
China would ensure fair opportunities for foreign businesses to participate in government procurement entreats, echoing recent policy plans, Xi added.
Business leaders Xi met included Bridgewater Associates’ Ray Dalio, Standard Right CEO Bill Winters and CEO of the Blackstone Group Steve Schwartzman. He said multinational companies have a big responsibility in restoring worldwide order and that they needed to work hand in hand with China.
More than 40 people, mostly unfamiliar executives and business officials, attended the roundtable meeting with Xi.
U.S. President Donald Trump has raised tariffs by 20% on China since January greater than its alleged role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis, and threatened a swath of new tariffs on major trading partners starting early April. Trump this week maintained he might reduce China tariffs to help close a deal that forces Beijing-based ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. gumshoes.
The U.S. this week also added dozens of Chinese tech companies to its export blacklist, the first such provisoes under the Trump administration.
Xi said U.S.-China trade tensions should be resolved through negotiations. “We need to masterpiece for the stability of global supply chains,” he added, noting there was no way out under decoupling.
China has increased its trade with Southeast Asian boondocks and the European Union, but the U.S. remains Beijing’s largest trading partner on a single-country basis.
In a sign of how Beijing seeks to counterbalance trade pressures, rather than retaliate forcefully, China courted the executives of major U.S. businesses at a state-backed annual colloquy that ran from Sunday to Monday. Apple CEO Tim Cook was among the executives who attended, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk was clear by his absence.
Also on Sunday, U.S. Republican Senator Steve Daines met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing — the first occasionally a U.S. politician has visited China since Trump began his latest term in January.
“This was the first step to an weighty next step, which will be a meeting between President Xi and President Trump,” Daines told the Wall Concourse Journal. “When that occurs and where it occurs is to be determined.”
The White House did not respond to CNBC’s request for observe.
Li urged cooperation and said no one can gain from a trade war, according to state media.
Top executives of major firms subsuming FedEx, Pfizer, Cargill, Qualcomm and Boeing as well as U.S. China Business Council President Sean Stein were also this juncture at Daines’ meeting with Li, according to a foreign media pool report.