Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang warned that there are “no winners” in a trade war, as China faces the potential of tariffs under the newly-inaugurated administration of Donald Trump.
“Protectionism leads no where. [A] trade war has no winners,” Ding said Tuesday, according to an official English translation.
He was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The vice premier began his address by referencing Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 2017 speech at Davos, which occurred just days before Donald Trump assumed office for his first term.
At the time, Xi had said that “pursuing protectionism is just like locking one’s self in a dark room. Wind and rain might be kept outside but so are light and air.”
After his second inauguration on Monday, Trump stated that the U.S. could impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada as soon as February.
Regarding China, the returning president suggested that tariffs might be used as leverage to pressure Beijing into forcing ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell the app, as its future availability in the U.S. remains uncertain.
“If we wanted to make a deal with TikTok, and it was a good deal, and China wouldn’t approve it, then I think ultimately they’d approve it, because we’d put tariffs on China,” Trump said. “I’m not saying I would, but you certainly could do that.”
Trump stated that he and Xi discussed TikTok and trade during a call on Friday. However, the Chinese readout of the conversation did not mention the social media app. Neither leader attended Davos this year.
