China appoints new top international trade negotiator amid tariff tensions with the US

BEIJING: China appointed as its new trade negotiator on Wednesday (Apr 16) a former representative to the World Trade Organization who replaces Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen, amid an escalating tariff war with the United States.

Li Chenggang, 58, a former assistant commerce minister during the first administration of US President Donald Trump, takes over from Wang, 59, the human resources and social security ministry said in a statement.

The change comes as Beijing pursues a hardline stance in an intensifying trade war with Washington triggered by Trump’s hefty tariffs on items imported from China.

Li, who has held several key jobs in the commerce ministry, such as in departments overseeing treaties and law and fair trade, has an academic background in the elite Peking University and Germany’s Hamburg University.

He replaces Wang, a veteran commerce official and top trade negotiator since 2022.

In the leadup to the US tariff escalation, Wang welcomed foreign executives in Beijing, some from PepsiCo, Visa, P&G, Rio Tinto and Vale, reassuring them of China’s economic prospects.

The step came after official data showed foreign direct investment plummeted 27.1 per cent in local currency terms in 2024 on the year, for its largest such drop since the 2008 global financial crisis.